Trading Places
by Vesalius
Summary: Bo and Lauren have gone their separate ways after their falling out in "Vexed." Lauren remains isolated, with no friends to speak of. However, Bo continues on her path to greatness, but not without making a few enemies along the way. Two of the biggest ones, Levi and the Norn, are determined to teach her a lesson by making her switch places with the Light Fae's lowly human doctor.
1. The Bet

Disclaimers: Lost Girl is the property of Prodigy Pictures and Shaw Media. I own nothing, and do not take any credit for any creative choices its production staff has made. However, any further bastardization of the plot and/or characters in the scope of this story is solely of my own doing, for which I apologize immensely.

The following story is being written on behalf of Isotopes5150 and her _extremely_ generous contribution to the Stand for the Silent anti-bullying campaign. To all the other donors and participants in the ClubDoccubus auction, I just wanted to reiterate how thankful I am for all of your dedication. This fandom continues to truly amaze me in every conceivable way.

The prompt for this story was to use themes from the 1983 film _Trading Places_, in which Bo's and Lauren's positions are switched by the meddling duo of Levi and the Norn, hoping to see the fallout that would befall them and the Fae world. This story will deviate some from canon — as you'll see, at the start of the story Bo still hasn't forgiven Lauren after their fallout from "Vexed" (1.08) — though other major canon plot points will remain the same (the defeat of the Garuda, etc.). These will be noted and explained in the narrative so that there's no confusion.

As always, I encourage feedback on this piece, and if you have a moment, drop Isotopes a quick message on Twitter to thank her as well. I appreciate all of you reading, and I hope you enjoy.

-Leslie

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* * *

Life sure was good at the top of the world. Four years ago, Bo wouldn't have even been able to conceive of living life as she was now. Back then, she was a fugitive, a killer running from her past. Despite her initial terror when she was found by the Fae, she'd never once looked back. In just a few years, Bo garnered quite the reputation among the supernatural ranks, yet somehow still managing to avoid declaring fealty to either clan.

Some regarded Bo in awe for her heroics against the Garuda — how her poisoned blade sliced his abdomen cleanly and ensured his demise. Others remembered Bo for her legendary defeat of the Wanderer, a literal demon from the pits of hell itself (and not coincidentally Bo's father as well). At first, she thought the Fae had no greater fear than the Garuda, the dangerous beast she slayed one year previously. But that was before whispers of the Wanderer's return surfaced. The Fae who were old enough to remember the tales of his destruction thought him dead, and the merest mention of him sent factions all over the world into a massive panic. The only one that remained collected was Bo, and in the coming months she systematically hunted the bastard down and made him pay for his many sins, not the least of which was his abuse of Aife. Those that considered Bo's victory against the Garuda merely a fluke were forced to change their tune after that, and as a result, Bo officially became the closest thing the Fae had to actual royalty.

She and Kenzi no longer had to live in the crack shack, for starters. They'd upgraded to a luxury condo, thanks to a most generous donation from one of the Light Fae's most wealthy donors. Bo was originally going to decline the offer, but Kenzi insisted they accept it — "Enjoy your shit already," she reminded Bo, right before pointing out that they'd both earned the right to have fully intact walls in their home. Bo suspected that Kenzi also secretly needed a bigger closet to house all the shoes she'd been gifted from their wealthiest Dark Fae contact. However, Kenzi and Bo still maintained their private investigator business as a hobby, despite the fact that neither of them really _needed_ to work another day in their lives. Both clans had a vested interest in staying in Bo's good graces, and they showered her in wealth and their strongest Fae to keep her succubus appetite sated. Now that Trick had just been officially coronated as Ash, the potential perks could only get better.

Bo stretched her limbs and squinted her eyes shut against the bright sunlight filtering through her window, recoiling only slightly when her left arm bumped against a solid mass in the bed next to her. Four years later, and she _still_ couldn't get used to the feeling of waking up next to the living, breathing bodies of her feeds. She nudged him awake, earning a deep, muffled grunt in response.

"Dyson, you know the rules," Bo told him. "No staying for breakfast."

"Yeah, and no more than two days in a row — I got it, Bo," Dyson mumbled. A moment later, he threw the smooth sheets back away from his body in a dejected huff. "We've been doing this for months… When are you gonna drop it with these rules anyway?"

Truthfully, Bo needed her rules. She didn't have the heart to outright push Dyson away after he got his love back, but she couldn't pretend like hearing the news was the best thing that ever happened to her. It felt more like an obligation — like she owed him a token effort because he'd lost his love to save her in the first place. Bo never asked him to do that, and now that she'd moved on, there was no way for her to recapture her feelings from before. She valued his friendship immensely but wanted nothing else. To try to maintain some semblance of their former closeness, she'd adopted "the rules," a variation of their initial friends with benefits arrangement that once upon a time had been so difficult to maintain. Bo just wasn't that girl anymore, but Dyson hadn't changed one bit — probably hadn't for at least a thousand years.

"We've talked about this," Bo said in a warning tone. "If you can't handle it, then say something. I need you to respect that I'm not ready for this to be anything more — for _us_ to be anything more." _And I never will be_, Bo finished in her thoughts. She supposed that this was the dreaded "Tim effect" that Kenzi mentioned to her once upon a time.

Bo could have anyone she wanted, and just about any Fae she'd been offered recently could easily hold their own against Dyson. Just a few days prior, the Dark Fae elders sent one of their famous Yukshee as Bo's prize for the evening. Dyson couldn't even begin to hold a candle to _that_ particular experience, though it would irreparably damage his pride to hear it.

An insistent knocking sounded at the door, cutting off Dyson's reply. Both he and Bo knew instantly who was standing on the other side.

"Hola, bitches!" Kenzi chirped, her energetic voice muted slightly by the sturdy door. "Cover up your naughty bits, I'm coming in!"

Dyson managed to slide into his jeans and button them just before Kenzi came barging into Bo's bedroom, carrying a file folder. He was still shirtless, and Bo didn't miss the way her friend licked her lips at the sight of his muscled abs. Her succubus also didn't miss the little flare of sexual excitement from Kenzi as she stared at him. Bo cleared her throat loudly to get Kenzi's attention, and the young girl looked away quickly with a guilty expression on her face. Yet the fact that Bo was still sitting naked underneath her sheets didn't seem to bother her in the slightest.

"Yes, Kenzi?" Bo asked. She smirked knowingly at her friend and enjoyed the resultant blush on her friend's face. "Something bothering you this morning?"

"We… umm… we got a new case." Kenzi shoved the manilla folder toward Bo and stepped backward, now intently ignoring the shirtless white elephant in the room that was the half-naked shifter. "A Fae dude done crossed the River Styx. One of the weird ones, just like you like 'em, succu-face."

Bo leafed through the pages in the file, perusing through the pictures and the notes scribbled across the pages. As she reached the last few, the pictures of the dead body in question showed up, and Bo immediately saw the weirdness Kenzi was talking about. Her face contorted in distaste.

"Ugh, Kenzi why is he so…"

"Liquidy?" the girl offered.

"Yeah." Bo shuddered. Most dead bodies she saw maintained their shape after they died, but this one looked like a humanoid water mattress. The hair and facial features remained the same, however, giving the victim an eerie, sinister appearance.

"I dunno," Kenzi shrugged. "I asked Trickster what could cause it. He didn't know right off hand, but he was willing to put money on some kind of Fae poison." Kenzi toed the soft beige carpet nervously with her high-heeled boots. "But he did mention that it might be some rare imported shit that wouldn't be in his books. You'd have to ask —"

"Lauren." Bo finished Kenzi's sentence for her, making it the first time she'd said the woman's name out loud in over a year. The silence that followed her name hung heavily in the room for several long moments, so Bo turned back to her best friend. "Will you go with —"

"Nope, not gonna happen," Kenzi cut her off and shook her head animatedly. "That shit is _way_ too awkward without booze, and even I am not a big enough alcoholic to start drinking before nine o'clock."

Though it had been a long time since Bo and Lauren shared any outward hostility, their interactions still made Bo feel incredibly awkward. Bo could count on one hand the number of times they'd actually been in the same room alone together since that night — the night that Lauren revealed she was loyal to the Ash above all others. It stung like a hot branding iron pressed up against her heart, and Bo never forgave her for the pain she caused. A couple of years helped the anger go away, but she still had no desire to share Lauren's presence alone. It trudged up too many unpleasant memories. Any time Bo needed scientific expertise, she always brought someone else with her, getting what she needed and leaving as fast as physically possible.

"I could go with you, if you want," Dyson offered, already shrugging into his black buttoned shirt from last night. "I'm headed that way to see Trick anyway."

"Are you sure?" Bo asked.

"Only if getting donuts before we go doesn't break your 'no breakfast' rule." Dyson grinned at her.

Bo leaned over the edge of the bed, fumbling through last night's outfit that was still strewn on the floor. She finally found her money and chucked one of her large, crumpled bills at the wolf, who caught it expertly.

"Chocolate, no sprinkles," Bo ordered him. "Now get going so I can take a shower."

Dyson gave her a mock salute and winked at her on his way out.

* * *

Lauren knew she had to time her request to the Ash perfectly. Now that Trick had been officially confirmed as the Light Fae's leader (and consequently, Lauren's new owner), it was time for Lauren to make her move. She and Trick had always gotten along well — at least, as well as could be expected for a Fae and a human — and what's more was that Trick always showed Lauren respect for her accomplishments.

With the exception of Hale, who'd surprisingly been an abject failure in politics, no other Ash was appreciative as Trick was. Most times, the requests that Lauren received were barked at her like orders, and even when she did manage to solve a tremendously complicated problem, she got little to no acknowledgment for it, much less actual thanks. Even years later, it still stung the worst when it was Bo at the other end of it. The doctor recalled vividly how Bo ignored her and openly lauded Dyson for his help with Aife after Lauren provided her with the koushang, or how Bo completely ignored the fact that against all odds, she somehow managed to stabilize Lachlan's Naga venom. Despite playing a crucial role in the Garuda's defeat, Lauren's contributions were ignored by all the Fae. She was merely a tool to be used. Lauren had known it for years, but now that there was the faintest glimmer of hope to escape from it in the form of her fond acquaintance, she was poised to take advantage of it.

There was literally nothing else for her here anymore. Even the uniqueness of the Fae's science was starting to become increasingly lackluster. The only reason that she'd stayed this long was for Nadia, and every passing month sucked a little more of Lauren's hope for her recovery. She'd agreed to this life of servitude in exchange for the Light's resources, ultimately to cure whatever Nadia's ailment was. Yet Lauren had done a complete medical workup a hundred times, both for Fae and human causes of persistent coma. The search yielded nothing. Nadia was one hundred percent healthy, minus the fact that she'd been unconscious for eight years and was dependent on her pod to continue living and breathing. She was Lauren's one and only failure to date, and each day that passed with no progress made Lauren more and more resentful toward her captors.

"Dr. Lewis, you're here early this morning," Trick greeted her jovially as she approached his office. Unlike Lachlan, Trick kept the doors to the Ash's quarters open, giving the place a more accessible vibe. "What can I do for you today?" he asked. Trick probably thought she was here to address the lab's medical supplies, which he was ultimately responsible for keeping in stock.

He had no idea that Lauren was about to drop a bombshell on him. She swallowed hard and tried to collect the courage to speak the words that were burning on her mind.

"I'm here to make a special request…" Lauren said in a shaky voice. She bowed her head to him in deference, a gesture she hated, but nonetheless would intimate the seriousness of her words.

Trick frowned. "Oh?"

"We've known each other for a long time, Ash." Lauren was still obligated to use the more formal title in professional circumstances, but it still felt awkward to use with him. "I'm sure you're aware by now of the circumstances that have lead to my servitude. I've exhausted every treatment and diagnostic modality available here, and there has been no change in Nadia's status. And in those years, I think it would be accurate to say that my services have been invaluable to the Light Fae." Nobody ever told Lauren as much, but she knew it to be true.

"Indeed, your work here has been impeccable. I can think of no finer physician we've had in our employ for centuries."

Lauren cringed at his word choice. She wasn't under anyone's _employ_; she was _owned_, and the necklace she wore around her neck was a symbol of that arrangement.

"It's the basis of that work on which I make my request today," Lauren said. She paused for a moment as Trick looked on expectantly. She took one huge, steadying breath and continued: "I've come to make a formal request for my freedom."

Her words seemed to echo endlessly in the high-ceilinged stone room, not helped by the fact that Trick was now staring at her with his mouth slightly agape. In terms of shock factor, Lauren definitely didn't disappoint, and it took a moment before the Ash finally realized that his mouth was open. He snapped it shut with an audible click, and the silence drew on uncomfortably for a long minute.

"I'm afraid that's not possible, Lauren," Trick said eventually, busying himself with the papers sprawled across his desk. She didn't miss how he was suddenly refusing to look her in the eye.

"I can't keep living like this," Lauren begged. "You're the Ash, Trick. Please… There _has_ to be something you can do."

"I've read the Ash's manifest." Trick's paper shuffling stopped, and he stared determinedly into the finished wood surface of his desk. "You're captivity was ordered by this office, yes, but it was ratified in full by the council of elders. It would take more than an edict from me to overturn that decision. You would need a majority in the council to take your side as well, and I can assure you, Dr. Lewis — _none_ of them would go for it."

What little hope Lauren held onto before she entered Trick's office was officially crushed yet again by the Fae and their hypocritical bullshit. The bitterness and rage was threatening to spill over, and instead of releasing it by smashing furniture (as she was sorely tempted to do), her throat constricted uncomfortably and her eyes began to burn. She didn't want to cry — least of all not in front of Trick, of all people. But seeing as how throwing, kicking, and screaming weren't a viable option, the only thing she could do was concentrate on not allowing any tears to spill over.

"Of course. I understand, sir," Lauren managed to choke out. Trick could probably tell from the tension in her voice that she was tenuously holding onto her control, though for Lauren's sake, he continued to avoid eye contact. "I think I'll be going now."

Trick called out to her right before she crossed the threshold to leave the office. "I know it won't help anything… but I am sorry, Dr. Lewis," he said to Lauren's back, with some modicum of sincerity.

She nodded almost imperceptibly and kept walking. Lauren kept walking down the south hall, through the medical labs, and without putting too much thought into where she was going or what she planned to do, she walked all the way to her parking lot and crawled into the driver's seat of her Light Fae-issued sedan, huddling herself over the steering column and finally letting her frustrations go in the form of tears.

Processing one week's frustrations turned into one month's, which later turned into a full year's worth. As Lauren kept on reflecting, the tears just kept on coming. As painful as the experience was, rehashing the memories that were better off forgotten, the exercise was cathartic. Once Lauren processed the hurt she'd been bottling inside for years, it lessened somehow. Two hours later, Lauren was was still sitting in her stuffy car with smeared makeup and red, puffy eyes, but she ironically felt more at peace — more clear-headed even.

Lauren still desperately wanted her freedom, especially as there was nothing further she could do for Nadia. If Trick was right, then she had no chance of obtaining her freedom directly through the Light Fae. Asking the Morrigan for help was out of the question; she'd just be exchanging on servitude for another. Lauren seriously considered searching out a genie before remembering that the wishes they granted were temporary and illusory. Lauren would _think_ she was free for a little while, but there would be no basis in reality.

There were other Fae that could give Lauren an authentic, lasting freedom. It wouldn't come free, however. The Norn was legendary for the hard bargains she drove. Lauren witnessed her cunning first-hand when Dyson foolishly gave up his love. Lauren actually laughed out loud at the idea. _If the old crone wants my heart, she can have it_, Lauren thought. _It's not like the damned thing isn't broken beyond repair anyway_.

Could Lauren really willingly give that up though? She was miserable in her current state with her half-dead girlfriend, and it's not like she would ever find love in the Fae world anyway. A few years ago, there was one fleeting moment when Lauren had optimism — like perhaps she could love and be loved in this crazy world after all. She recalled vividly having her necklace torn off and being assured that nobody owned her. It was revolutionary, being considered an equal amongst the Fae. But not even half an hour later, the damned necklace was hurled back at her, along with the most venomous words Lauren would ever hear.

_Don't forget your dog collar._

The words still made Lauren's muscles stiffen in response.

She would give anything to not have to relive those memories again. If she couldn't have love, at least she could numb herself against the hurt. She would remember Bo and Nadia, but the all consuming agony would be gone. The doctor part of her was fascinated at the idea of supernatural anesthetic for her heart. She wouldn't feel the pleasure that came with love, but she certainly wouldn't feel the pain from it either. And if succumbing to the Norn's power meant that she would be allowed her freedom, so much the better.

Lauren had never been to the Norn's home herself, though she knew of the address. Without saying a single word to any of the Light Fae at the compound, Lauren simply drove away. Hers was such a well known face that nobody stopped her as she left, and within minutes, she was standing on the ancient Fae's front porch. The Fae were notorious for their efforts to blend into the human world, but she still could help but be surprised at the little suburban house the fearsome Norn lived in. There was even a blue rocking chair out front swaying gently in the breeze.

"Dr. Lauren Lewis," an old, haggard woman answered the door with a creepy smile. She leaned on her walking stick heavily, pushing her wrinkled face closer to Lauren's. "I was wondering when I was going to be seeing you. What is your business?"

"I've come to offer a trade."

The Norn's eyes glinted in happiness. "Of course, child. Come in."

The inside of the Norn's house was even stranger than the outside. Lauren wasn't sure what she was expecting from a several thousand-year old Fae, but _Good Housekeeping_ magazines littering the coffee table and an old-style cathode ray television set definitely weren't on the list. Once they emerged in the den, an enormous tree trunk was visible. Judging from the diameter, the height probably rivaled some of the world's tallest redwoods (though Lauren couldn't recall seeing even a tiny sapling from the front of the house). In the dim lighting, Lauren could still discern some heavy scarring along the tree's roots, making her frown. The Norn's sacred tree was where she drew her many powers from, and she couldn't fathom anyone being stupid enough to defile it.

"I know you're a smart woman, Dr. Lewis," the Norn said, drawing Lauren's eyes away from the unsightly blemish on her tree. "You wouldn't be here unless you were willing to sacrifice. I can see what it is you wish of me — how you long for your freedom. I trust that you know my price?"

"That which is most valuable," Lauren answered. "I am prepared to offer it."

The Norn smirked. "For what you desire most, I will take what you value most. That is my offer."

Lauren replayed the words in her head, searching for any hidden meanings or loopholes where the Norn could press her trickery. It was how she fooled Dyson, no doubt. For all the wolf's strength, he severely lacked in cunning. Lauren knew that facing the Norn was a battle in and of itself and deserved to be treated as such.

"I said 'that which is most valuable,' and you said 'that which I value most.'" Lauren mused. "There has to be a difference, or else you wouldn't have said it any differently."

The Norn glanced back at her curiously, but didn't respond to Lauren's ramblings.

"What is 'that which is most valuable'?" Lauren asked, eager to hear what the ancient Fae said.

"That which is most valuable in your kind is, of course, the human heart. Its strength and resilience is unmatched compared to any other in existence."

Lauren suspected as much, and that was precisely what she intended to give to the Norn in exchange for her freedom. "And what is that which I value most?" Lauren asked for clarification, knowing that in order to strike an honest deal, the ancient Fae was required to answer her truthfully. The old Norn was cunning, but she never outwardly lied. She was a master of misdirection, and Lauren couldn't allow herself to fall into her trap.

"You should know, of all people. Despite its wealth of value, you don't value your heart, Dr. Lewis. That which _you_ value most is your wonderful mind, and that is what I would require as payment for your freedom."

"If it's more valuable, why wouldn't you just take my heart?"

"The strength of the sacrifice is what creates the strength of the wish granted. Freedom is no trivial matter. If you claim to want it, you must be willing to sacrifice heavily for it." The Norn glared at Lauren accusingly for an instant. "You _want_ your heart taken from you, Dr. Lewis. That will not do. The price for your freedom will be your mind — I will accept no other substitutions."

If the Norn took Lauren's mind, well… She wouldn't be _Lauren_ anymore. She shuddered to think of the prospect, of what her life would be if she returned to the human world a shallow husk of her former self. Even though her hollowed out brain wouldn't know the difference, _this_ version of herself would. Lauren didn't have much pride left after eight years with the Fae, but what little she had was placed in her intelligence. She couldn't knowingly subject herself to that kind of twisted torture. She would remain a slave and fight for her freedom another way, even if it took the rest of her life to accomplish.

"In light of these terms, I decline your offer, Norn," Lauren said.

"I thought you might. You aren't so foolish as to blindly accept terms you don't understand. As you're well aware, I don't offer _refunds_." The old woman's words were heavily laced with bitterness, and she looked away from Lauren promptly. "If you no longer have a trade to offer me, doctor, then I suggest you leave."

Lauren wasted no time freeing herself from the odd little house. As she walked from the front door and spotted the rocking chair again, she had a sinister vision of the old crone sitting on the front porch and offering unsuspecting passers by an invitation into her home. She'd most likely preyed on more than a few unknowing humans already, which made Lauren's stomach turn. The doctor walked with a little more haste in her movements and quickly drove to the compound.

Each day she arrived, the place seemed more and more like a prison. Even the sight of her medical labs, which were classically white with clean, sophisticated equipment, began to fill her with dread, though the sentiment wasn't helped by the two people loitering in her lobby at this early hour.

Dyson and Bo were sitting together on Lauren's main workstation, their legs dangling over the edge of the tabletop. The tiny hairs on the back of Lauren's neck rose in alarm, and when the two of them giggled and Dyson reached over to suggestively wipe chocolate icing from the corner of Bo's mouth, Lauren's hands reflexively squeezed tighter around the strap of her medical bag. Every second that the intimate gestures continued, Lauren's grip only grew tighter, only ceasing once the cramping in her hand became unbearable. Dyson would have definitely smelled her presence by now, yet he seemed to enjoy toying with her intentionally. Bo carried on flirting with Dyson completely oblivious to Lauren's presence.

_Just like it's always been_, Lauren thought bitterly. Dyson's head popped up in interest as if he'd heard Lauren's thoughts out loud.

"Dr. Lewis," he said with a perfunctory show of decorum. Lauren wasn't sure if it was her own psyche projecting or not, but she swore his expression was gloating. "We weren't expecting for you to be so _late_ today. That's not like you at all." He reached for Bo's hand and threaded their fingers together while the succubus looked determinedly away from her.

Yep, he was definitely gloating. Dyson 1, Lauren 0.

"I had an errand," Lauren said, purposefully leaving out the details of her visit to the Norn. If any Light Fae found out she nearly bartered for her freedom, they'd throw her in the dungeon for considering it.

"Well, now that you've decided to grace us with your presence, we need you to take a look at this case report." The wolf held out a file folder for her expectantly.

The arrogance of the simple gesture rubbed Lauren the wrong way. She was already a slave to the Ash, so attending to his every whim was already something she was forced to put up with on a regular wasn't Light Fae-related work, however. If it was, she would have been notified by an elder or Trick himself. This was Bo-related work, and the stubborn succubus couldn't even be bothered to look her in the eye while her Fae _boyfriend_ did her bidding for her.

"I'm busy today, Dyson."

"Not too busy to get here almost an hour late." Dyson 2, Lauren 0.

Lauren hesitated, glancing back and forth between the folder and the woman it actually belonged to, the same woman who broke Lauren's heart years ago and was still determined to punish her for their misunderstanding. Helping her with this case wouldn't change anything, Lauren knew. It never did. No matter how many revival or hunger serums she provided, or how many Naga venom compounds she stabilized, she would still be the enemy to Bo. What bothered Lauren the most was that she still had the unrelenting urge to help her — even now, when things were still most acrimonious between them.

"Fine," Lauren said, holding out her hand to accept the file but making no move to step any closer to the Fae duo. "Let me see."

Dyson finally released Bo's hand and hopped down from the workstation's surface. He closed the space between them with several confident strides and proffered the file folder, knowing better than to interrupt Lauren as she glanced through its contents. She took her time, examining each detail the Fae crime scene unit was able to record, as well as the pictures themselves.

"Well?" the wolf asked after a few minutes. His growing impatience was audible even to Lauren, who was engrossed in the material in front of her.

"It's a poison, definitely," Lauren announced. "But it's not like one I've ever seen before."

"Figures," Dyson scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I knew that coming here was completely useless."

"I wasn't finished, Dyson," Lauren said sternly. The reprimand made him pause — Dyson 2, Lauren 1. "The body's entire tissue collection deep to the subdermal layer has appeared to undergo liquefactive necrosis. Now as a doctor, there's not a great explanation for that. Poisons cause necrosis yes, but their effects are organ-specific. Blood vessels undergo fibrinoid necrosis, most solid organs undergo coagulation necrosis, and in some longer-acting poisons, you can even see gangrenous necrosis. In each of these, however, the underlying bone structure is spared. To dissolve calcium bone matrix would require osteoclast activity, and if the bone tissue was dead, that wouldn't happen. Everything here has undergone liquefactive necrosis — even the bones."

Lauren glanced up from her folder to see Dyson's obtuse expression. It didn't disappoint, and from the corner of her eye, she caught Bo staring. It wasn't long though; as soon as Lauren caught sight of her, she looked away hurriedly.

Lauren continued after a long sigh: "This is a toxin of some sort, I'm certain, but it's not organic. It has all the hallmarks of a specifically engineered super-toxin. Of course, to tell you anything else or to make an anti-toxin I would need to take some samples from the body."

"The Light Fae crimes unit will be bringing him in shortly," Dyson explained. "You can do any tests you like after that."

Lauren nodded. "Is that all?" It was foolish to hope for Bo to pay her any attention, yet even after the countless times she'd visited the labs for help, the doctor couldn't help but naively wait for the woman's undivided attention. Bo showed more interest in the scuff marks on her boots most days, and Lauren didn't know what she could even hope for anymore.

Dyson spoke up first. "That's all, doctor. You can send over your assessment to the precinct when you're done." He returned to Bo's side and whispered into her ear, making her laugh.

Lauren watched with the equivalent of an underfae demon clawing at her insides as the pair strolled out of the lab. Bo didn't once look back, and as soon as Dyson offered his bent elbow in the classic gesture of offering to escort her away, Bo smiled brightly at him and looped her own arm through his in acceptance. After that, Lauren couldn't bear to watch anymore. She dropped the case file and her heavy medical bag, burying her face in her hands and trying vainly to clear the unpleasant image from her mind.

Yet again, she'd been abandoned to her task alone, and yet again, the Fae requesting her help didn't offer so much as a simple "thank you" in return.

* * *

Dyson was acting out, Bo was all too aware. He never giggled in public, and he certainly had an aversion to public displays of affection — it didn't mix well with his brooding badass reputation, most likely. Bo was more outward with her emotions, which is why it surprised her that Dyson was doing the same a few minutes before. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why: he was intentionally rubbing Lauren's face in it.

As childish as his behavior was, Bo couldn't bring herself to correct him. That would mean confronting Lauren, and Bo still wasn't ready to do that, even now. So she went along with the charade, not missing the subtle signs that the doctor may have been more flustered than she was letting on — her white knuckled grip on her bag's strap, for instance. Bo long ago discovered first hand how detached Lauren could be with her emotions. Though she disapproved of Dyson's actions for sending the wrong message, part of her enjoyed still getting a rise from the doctor years after the fact. That pretense was over, however. As soon as she and Dyson were out of the lab, Bo extricated her arm from his grasp, creating a more friend-appropriate distance between them, and Dyson at least had the good sense not to argue about it. He was already getting enough attention from the Fae walking the compound's halls. Merely being in Bo's presence commanded a wealth of attention these days, and the wolf was obviously loving the spotlight immensely in whatever role she offered him.

"I'll let you know when I get the report," Dyson said, having to raise his voice a little to project over the steady hum of voices surrounding them. "Maybe I could come over tonight and we could… you know… look over them together." His eyes gleamed suggestively.

His tone was way too eager, and Bo didn't like that she couldn't read his motivations exactly. He was never one to waste an opportunity to get into her pants, Bo was certain, but if he wanted that, he would have made the proposition later… and in private. The publicity of his offer bothered her, and she was convinced that at least part of it was done to revel in Bo's rising celebrity factor. If he asked for the equivalent of a date, and she accepted in front of half the Light Fae, Dyson's reputation would soar to legend status in a matter of minutes. Bo knew that she regularly used Dyson to keep her hunger satiated, but this was the first time she'd ever felt used in return.

"Huh," was Bo's only reply, but Dyson wasn't going to be deterred so easily.

"If you're lucky, we could go through the files — _twice_."

Bo glared at him. His blatant come on did remind her of something she'd forgotten, however…

"Dyson, I left the case files back in the labs." Without thinking, she turned on her heel and retreated, leaving a stunned wolf behind her. It took a few seconds, but eventually she heard his heavy footsteps thudding behind her once again.

"Bo, slow down, you're gonna —"

Dyson's warning came just a fraction of a second too late. In the growing crowd, Bo hadn't seen the figure dashing right in front of her, and the two careened into each other with a respectable head of steam, causing them both to sprawl awkwardly and papers to fly everywhere. It hadn't hurt, by any means, but the sudden change in momentum was enough to throw her off balance and send her crashing to the floor.

Bo's apologies came swiftly and automatically. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, it was my fault, I —"

Her words got caught in her throat once she saw the other person on the ground in front of her. It was Lauren, who suddenly looked like a deer caught in the headlights. The doctor moved to pick up the mess of papers quickly as the Fae onlookers formed a circle around them. Most of them were so focused on Bo that they hadn't really noticed what happened, and nearly all of them were glaring at Lauren accusingly. Several of them tried to pull Bo upright, but the succubus brushed them all off.

"You left your files in the lab," Lauren muttered, looking anywhere but Bo. She clearly took comfort in organizing the mess of papers in front of her. "I didn't see you coming, it was my fault…" The doctor kept rambling, but Bo didn't really register any of it. She'd been avoiding Lauren like the plague and still couldn't shake the flustered feeling she got whenever she was around her. The effect Lauren had on her after all this time pissed Bo off, but she didn't know what else she could do to get rid of it.

"I… I —" Bo stuttered.

"What's going on here?" a deep voice called from the edge of the circle. Both Lauren and Bo glanced up to see one of the Light Fae's beefy security officers glaring at the doctor, obviously having just arrived on the scene.

"It's nothing," Lauren said hastily. "It was just an accident, I was going to return this, but —"

"Is that yours, Ms. Dennis?" the security guard ignored Lauren's explanation, turning his attention toward the Light Fae's favored succubus. He gestured toward the file folder that Lauren held in her hand, and Bo stared at him with an unsure expression.

"Yeah…" Bo answered in a small voice. "… It's mine."

"I thought so," he nodded in agreement. In one smooth movement, he violently snatched the collection of papers from Lauren's grasp, handing them to Bo dutifully. Bo's eyes widened when he moved to pull Lauren up by her underarms. The blonde winced at the discomfort, though the guard paid her no mind. "The Ash will be disappointed to hear that you're attacking one if his best supporters to steal from them. He expects better from you."

Nobody from the growing crowd of Fae said a word as he twisted Lauren's arms behind her back. It was all a misunderstanding, Bo knew, but the assumptions Fae made about humans would never favor them in any way. In lieu of labeling this debacle as the accident it truly was, the Fae would willingly call it an attack. The truth didn't matter to them, however. The human would be put in her place, and the status quo would be maintained. She wasn't Lauren's biggest fan by any means, but this was still unfair, and she knew it. The guard was pulling her away from the crowd brusquely, not paying any mind to the way Lauren's face was contorting in pain.

Bo clambered to her feet, ignoring the shocked looks around her. Several Fae moved forward to help, but Bo brushed them all off.

"Hey, she didn't do anyth—" Her argument was cut short by a strong grip on her shoulder.

"Just let it be, Bo," Dyson said gently in her ear, loud enough for only Bo to hear. "It's the way things are."

"But she didn't do anything wrong, Dyson," Bo argued.

"That doesn't always matter. Humans need to be reminded where they stand sometimes. It isn't always a hundred percent right, but it has to be done. It's for the greater good of the Fae."

By the time Bo looked back, Lauren and the guard were gone. Where they'd disappeared to was anyone's best guess, but Bo couldn't imagine that it was anywhere pleasant.

* * *

It had been just over a year since that damned human brandished her chainsaw against the Norn's sacred tree. The heavy cuts against the roots hadn't killed it straightaway, but the injuries had been severe enough to require nearly constant care. If the Norn didn't tend to it, then her powers would slowly ebb away, and one day, years from now, she would die as mundane a death as the humans she occasionally bartered with. She'd lived far too many millennia to meet such an ordinary end.

In addition to numerous gardening salves she'd bartered from various woodland fairies, the Norn also visited the injured roots underground every week to cast her protective spells over them as they healed. The tree had taken many years to grow to its current greatness, and she suspected it would be just as long before it returned to its former glory. All she had to do was keep painstakingly caring for its health. The improvements were slow, but noticeable. She'd measured that the huge gash along the base of her tree had shrunk by a few millimeters already. Every time she saw the jagged cuts, however, it filled her with an implacable rage. That damned succubus' pet was responsible for this, she knew… All of them were probably still laughing at her this very day.

The dark, damp underground tunnels were familiar territory for the Norn even before she had to visit the this particular part of her tree. One of her oldest rivals lived here, and if the Norn could escape without being teased about letting a _human_ deface her tree this week, she would be satisfied. The Leviathan wouldn't be so considerate, however. The Norn's visits came at regular intervals now, and _Levi_ (as the Norn jokingly referred to her) always knew when she would be underground. Sure enough, as soon as the Norn was about to make her escape, a familiar cackling laughter sounded behind her. As she turned around, her suspicions were confirmed. Levi's glittering blue shroud looked as ridiculous as ever, and her darkened lips were spread widely in amusement.

"What do you want now, you old bat?!" the Norn snapped. "You want me to turn you into an overgrown lizard again?" She waved her walking stick at Levi threateningly.

Levi kept smiling at her. "Oh come on, Wynne — lighten up. Just think… You could have avoided all of this if you'd just given the succubus' pet a cheeseburger."

The Norn bristled at the reminder of the girl's words that night. She never believed the girl would go through with it, but she'd said some nonsense about the irreverence of her kind — _how they drive SUV's, dump raw sewage into pretty lakes, and would burn this planet to the ground if it meant just one more cheeseburger_. After that, the girl pressed her blade against the sacred tree, and the Norn hadn't heard the end of it since. The entire story was absolutely hilarious to Levi, who wasted no opportunity to remind her.

The Norn knew that the girl — this _Kenzi_ — was the succubus' pet. She'd done her atrocities for the succubus' benefit, and nobody stopped her. The wolf's love was returned, and he'd been at the beck and call of Bo Dennis ever since. In the grand scheme of things, Bo was the victor. Eons ago, the Norn used to be the most feared and respected Fae living this side of the earth, and the Leviathan was the most feared living below it. Now that title belonged to that damned arrogant succubus Bo Dennis, though she'd done nothing to earn that reputation. She never won any victories alone, yet she claimed the rewards for herself. Bo cheated her way through life and through every battle she faced, and the Fae treated her like royalty for sheer dumb luck, forgetting all about the terror the Norn could bring upon them all. It made her sick to her stomach.

"As I recall, Levi, the succubus bested you once upon a time," the Norn teased in return. "Looks like either your mind isn't what it used to be, or there's someone else in this world now that can craft an unsolvable riddle."

"But she cheated!"

"That's not what I heard." Actually, the phrase the Norn heard was that the succubus _Bo'd_ it, obviously a euphemism for her particular brand of deception, but she wasn't about to let Levi off the hook that easily.

"If you give a riddle, there has to either be an answer or no answer at all! Merely saying, 'I'm confused,' as an answer does not count!"

The Norn chuckled at Levi. After the embarrassment of chainsaw incident, it had been a while since she'd gained the upper hand on her old rival. She'd almost forgotten what it felt like.

"Relax, Levi. I'm just joking — well, _mostly_ joking." The Norn stepped forward to the other ancient Fae in an outward showing of peace. "I think we can both agree that the arrogant succubus is out of control. No respect, no conscience, and —"

"— and no consequences!" Levi blurted.

"Indeed," the Norn agreed with a nod. "What I wouldn't give to see her being brought back down to earth with the rest of us. She needs to be taught a lesson, though the Fae seem content to worship the ground she walks on. Hell, most of them would probably willingly volunteer to drink her dirty bathwater."

Levi was pensive for a moment. "You know, I'll bet you anything that if you took everything from her — her strength, her position, her reputation — there wouldn't be anyone left to fawn over her," she mused. "She would be completely helpless and exposed for the fraud she is!"

The Norn grinned mischievously. "Are you talking about a wager, Levi?"

"Why not? Between the two of us, we could break her, you know. Make her human and completely helpless. All we would need is a human's place to put her in — someone alone and powerless. We could arrange the switch, and watch from afar as Bo Dennis spiraled out of control. If she does — or I should say _when _she does," Levi beamed at her confidently, "I would be the winner."

Levi's tone was positively gleeful at the idea. Her suggestion triggered one of the Norn's recent memories — the Light Fae's human doctor, Lauren Lewis, fit her description of the required human entirely. If the Norn wasn't mistaken (and she never was), the isolation wrought upon her was in large part due to the succubus' actions. The poetic justice of having them switch places made her mouth water in anticipation. Even if Bo didn't completely fall on her face as Levi suspected, the balance of power in the Fae world would finally normalize. That made the entire proposition enticing to the Norn whether she won or not.

"What will we be betting?" the Norn asked.

Levi blinked in confusion and swiftly glanced around her tunnels. Ancient Fae had no use for human money, of course. That was the reason the Norn traded in goods and powers, and Levi would deal in the same. She scrambled to the dark corner as nimbly as she could with her walking stick, hobbling slightly on her weathered old frame. She held up an old bone proudly, with a triumphant smile on her face.

"And just what the hell am I supposed to do with that, you daft nut?" the Norn scoffed. "Do I look like a dog to you?"

Levi raised a challenging eyebrow at her. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

"If we're going to do this, it has to be something we would _both_ use. Something rare…"

"I suppose you have something in mind then? It's not like enjoy gardening, if that's what you had in mind." Levi glared over the Norn's shoulder at the tree roots that were passing through her tunnel.

The Norn thought for several moments before a brilliant idea struck her: "How about an ice cold Cherry Dr Pepper?"

They were certainly tasty. The Norn only ever tasted the drink once, and she knew Levi's experience was about the same. Cherry Dr Peppers were even rare in this part of the world…

"Deal," Levi said with a wide grin. She extended her hand to seal their agreement, and the Norn didn't hesitate to take it.

Tonight, they would destroy Bo Dennis together, all for the bargain price of an admittedly delicious can of soda.


	2. The Switch

Most days, Lauren woke up to the blaring of the alarm on her nightstand. The Fae didn't have any concept of vacation days or weekends off, so that particular pattern was all she knew — at least on the days she woke up in her Light Fae-owned apartment. Last night, Lauren fell asleep within the confines of the dungeons, with her wrists and ankles cuffed and chained uncomfortably together.

Lauren knew from experience that a night of sleeping in those conditions wreaked hell on her body. The inability to stretch out her limbs in a relaxing position not only made it more difficult to fall asleep, but it also made her back, shoulders, and hips hurt for the next few days. As she started to gradually return to consciousness, however, Lauren realized that she was neither in her own apartment, nor was she locked away in the Fae's dungeons. The fact that she felt more energized and alive than ever before should have alerted her that something was amiss, but it wasn't until she heard the steady sound of breathing next to her that she jolted completely awake. Lauren was certain she'd never once seen the blonde woman in bed next to her, and she immediately flung herself upright, pulling the foreign sheets up to cover her own naked chest. The sudden movement caused the stranger to stir. Lauren watched her stretch her arms and legs lazily with a mixture of confusion and terror.

Lauren hadn't slept with many women since Nadia, and the ones she did were rarely around in the morning. Even though she had no intents to see most of them ever again, Lauren could still recall their names. She was quite certain that she'd never seen this woman before in her life, and as Lauren watched her continue rousing from sleep, she was struck by what an odd choice she'd apparently made. She was beautiful, no doubt, but the thin, leggy blonde wasn't exactly her type. The woman's eyelids fluttered open slowly, revealing light brown eyes eerily similar to her own, and she grinned at a very stunned Lauren Lewis.

_Have I just experienced an amnestic event?_ Lauren wondered. There were several reasons why someone might wake up missing a significant portion of their memories: medicines, drugs, seizures, head trauma… Lauren unconsciously rubbed the side of her head with her free hand as the thought crossed her mind. It didn't hurt, and there were no lingering signs of injury. She couldn't help but feel a little grateful for being spared the memories of her most recent incarceration at the Light Fae compound. The woman's condo was beautiful, though she couldn't recall ever seeing it before either.

"Good morning," the woman rasped in a sleepy haze. She didn't appear shocked to see Lauren at all, so if there was any memory manipulation going on, she clearly wasn't affected.

Lauren continued clutching at the sheets around her chest as if she were holding on for dear life. "Good morning," she replied out of habit, but her uneasy response sounded more like a question.

The woman chuckled at Lauren's modesty and sat upright as well. Unlike Lauren, she didn't bother covering herself, and the sheets pooled around her waist, showing off her naked breasts and flat stomach. Lauren caught herself staring open-mouthed for several awkward moments, causing her to look pointedly away with a fierce blush. The entire exchange was immensely entertaining to her companion, who laughed openly at Lauren's guilty look.

"The great Lauren Lewis — I never would have pegged you for being shy in the morning. Not with _your_ reputation… and certainly not after last night." Her smile grew even wider, as if she were endlessly amused by Lauren's sudden reserve.

Lauren frowned. "Pardon?"

"Don't get me wrong," the woman added hastily, licking her lips as if lost in some memory, "it was _amazing_. But when the Morrigan sent me over yesterday, she made it sound like you requested me specifically."

Lauren stared at her completely dumbfounded. She could count the number of times she'd spoken with the Morrigan on a single hand; all of them were during rare occasions when her projects at the labs benefited both clans. The Dark Fae leader always teased Lauren with a healthy amount of sexual bantering, but they were most definitely not on close terms. If Lauren ever asked Evony for a private favor, the woman would probably laugh in her face if she wasn't thrown in a dungeon by the Ash first. She wasn't even in a position to ask _him_ for favors, as she found out not too long ago. Asking the Morrigan would be out of the question. And while the Dark Fae definitely weren't averse to gifting hedonistic pleasantries to their most affluent or powerful supporters, Lauren couldn't begin to fathom what she could've done to warrant such a favor.

As Lauren's silence extended past simple awkwardness, the grin gradually faded from the other woman's face, shifting first to a confused and then a worried expression. She clearly assumed that she offended Lauren in some way.

"I'm sorry," Lauren gushed as not to distress her. "It's not you…" she trailed off.

"'It's not you, _it's me_'? Really Lauren?" She tried to keep her tone light, even bordering on joking, but Lauren could tell that her own reaction was a source of growing concern to the woman next to her. "What's gotten into you this morning?"

Maybe the truth was the best way to go about handling the situation. After all, it wasn't as if Lauren knew what was going on, and if the woman next to her could tell her _anything_, then she might have a clearer idea of what happened and why her world was suddenly upside down.

Lauren sighed. "I don't know. I'm sorry, but… I don't really… remember…" _You — this place — how I got here_ — there were so many possibilities, so she hesitated, not knowing where to start first.

"Well, I'm Karen." The other blonde held her hand out to Lauren expectantly. If Lauren let go of the sheets, she'd expose herself, so she kept her hand firmly in place. A handshake was a ridiculous gesture, seeing as how they were both naked and sharing a bed together. Judging by the smirk on Karen's face, she was well aware of it. "I'm not sure where this sudden modesty is coming from, but I can assure you," Karen dropped her eyes suggestively down Lauren's body, "you have nothing to worry about. I'm a big fan of _everything_."

Finally Lauren relented, holding her breath as the sheets fell away from her body. Karen held her hand a little longer than necessary, obviously enjoying the view. Her scrutiny caused Lauren to blush furiously.

"I didn't take anything last night, did I?" Lauren asked in an effort to cover up how flustered she was.

"We had some wine; that's all."

"Nothing else? The Morrigan didn't…?"

She wasn't sure what the Morrigan's game was, sending her to bed with a stranger — and apparently on request. Nor did she know what purpose could be served by depriving Lauren of her memories, but the Morrigan's plans rarely made sense until they came to fruition. Lauren had to make sure that she wasn't being played.

"She called me last night to say that you were looking for something a little different from your usual Fae lovers. So I met you here at your place. If you don't remember what happened after that," Karen smirked mischievously, "let me just tell you that it was really, _really_ good."

Lauren frowned. "_My_ place?" She glanced around the luxurious condo frantically, not recognizing the room or anything inside it.

"Are you feeling all right?" Karen placed a concerned hand on Lauren's bare shoulder. "Do you need another pick-me-up? I can handle it, if that's what you need."

"No, no… It's fine." Lauren shook her head. It wasn't a matter of not feeling well; physically, she actually felt better than she had in her entire life for some reason. "I just need some coffee, and I need to get to work."

Karen climbed from the bed and picked up several discarded items of clothing as she circled the bed towards Lauren. She didn't bother covering herself, and if Lauren wasn't mistaken, she seemed to take extra care to flaunt her body as she waltzed through the room to her side.

"Suit yourself," she whispered seductively in Lauren's ear. "I took the liberty of putting my number in your phone while you were sleeping earlier —" she pressed a kiss against her cheek, "— just in case you change your mind later."

Lauren didn't know how to respond to that. Karen didn't wait for her response, however. In a few seconds, she'd slipped back into her clothes and slipped out the bedroom door, leaving Lauren alone.

"What in the hell is going on?" Lauren whispered to herself. She rubbed her forehead vigorously, hoping that it would clear any bizarre hallucinations she'd experienced this morning. None of it made any sense — how she got here, sleeping with Karen, or why she had no memories leading up to this point.

She didn't have much time to dwell on it before her next guest invited herself in. This one Lauren _did_ recognize, however, and watched in horror as the familiar figure strolled nonchalantly into the bedroom sporting a shit-eating grin, one mug of coffee in each hand.

It was Kenzi.

* * *

The painful squeeze of metal against Bo's wrists woke her from an uneasy sleep. She was no stranger to using handcuffs in bed, but she couldn't recall using them with Karen. She also couldn't remember them cutting this uncomfortably into her skin. Bo pulled against them unconsciously yet again, wincing as a fresh wave of soreness returned.

Despite feeding abundantly the previous night, her body was riddled with a variety of aches and pains this morning. Bo was never quite so fatigued after a feed either, and as she opened her eyes, the unfamiliarity of the room caused her to frown. The stifling darkness made discerning any details incredibly difficult, but Bo could definitely tell that she wasn't in her condo this morning. If she had been, there would be light filtering in through the windows, and she would be lying on top of her soft mattress. As it was, Bo was curled uncomfortably in a heap on what she could only assume was a hard stone floor. Pressure points had formed along her shoulder and hip during the night, and her back twinged uncomfortably as she shuffled to an upright position.

There was only source of light in the dark room, a tiny opening in the door at eye level. Bo was certain she'd never seen this place before, but it had all the hallmarks of a crude jail cell. The reinforced metal door was designed with only strength in mind; she'd been inside a number of prisons during her stint with Kenzi as a private investigator. The maximum security unit she'd visited to see Lou Ann wasn't even this formidable. The Fae had to be involved, Bo was certain; their cells would need to be more robust than the ones humans used to keep their subjects incarcerated. Bo struggled against the chains binding her hands, only to find another set holding her ankles together. She stumbled to the door and peered out of its opening, hoping to see someone that could help her on the other side. However, nobody was around.

Bo slammed the metal cuffs against the steel door, causing a loud, echoing clang to ring through the halls.

"Hey!" Bo yelled. "Somebody help me!" she yelled. For good measure, she struck her cuffs hard against the door again. She repeated the pattern enough times that _someone_ must've heard her, and she didn't relent from her yelling or pounding on the door until she received a response.

"What do you want?!" a gruff, muffled voice sounded from the other side. A second later, a set of angry eyes appeared through the slit in the door, and Bo recognized them as belonging to the Light Fae guard from yesterday — the same one who'd dragged Lauren away after their collision.

"You need to let me out! What the hell am I even doing here?"

"You've still got three hours in the slammer," he grumbled. "Ash's orders." Despite the reverence he showed Bo yesterday, there was no hint of kindness in his voice this morning. There was obviously some reason for the change in his demeanor, though she was at a loss to what it could be.

"_Trick_ is behind this?! Why? What the hell is he playing at?!"

The guard narrowed his eyes at Bo. "You should remember your place. The Ash wouldn't be pleased to hear your blatant disrespect for his position."

Without another word, he turned from the door and retreated, disappearing from view. Trick wouldn't do this to her, she was certain, and Bo couldn't stay locked up for another three hours, not without knowing why she was here and why all of a sudden the Fae were on her case. Escaping would be simple enough with her persuasive abilities, but she needed an opportunity for physical contact, something she wouldn't get if she stayed cooped up in a solid stone cell. In a panic, Bo instinctively called out to the guard.

"Wait! I have to go to the bathroom!" she lied.

As an afterthought, Bo glanced around the dark room, grateful to see that there was no latrine in the cramped area. If there had been, it would have rendered her excuse laughable. Sure enough, a few seconds later, his grumpy face appeared in the door's slit yet again.

"Can't you hold it for a few more hours, Dennis?"

Bo shook her head. "I've been holding it all night," she lied again.

The guard stared at her through the tiny opening for a minute, as if he were looking for some sign of deception. Bo kept her eyes confident and didn't let her expression waver. There was apparently some debate going on in the Light Fae's mind — probably deciding whether or not it was worth letting Bo out for a few seconds if the alternative meant potentially being responsible for cleaning up any mess she made in the dungeon. Eventually, his aversion to playing Light Fae janitor won out.

"Fine," he grumbled. "But make it quick."

The metal of his keys clanged against the steel door, and Bo sighed in relief once the heavy door swung open. She didn't even care that much about the bright lights hurting her eyes now that there was a promise of escape. Bo offered no protest as the guard grabbed her arm roughly and dragged her down the hallway. The chains around her feet made it difficult to walk, but Bo did the best she could given the circumstances. Once she was certain that the guard wasn't looking, she twisted her own hands in the cuffs until she could finally touch his. He didn't even flinch at the contact, and Bo grinned, releasing a pulse of energy into him.

Nothing happened.

Bo frowned and tried again, but she put more effort into it this time. The usual glow she observed in her hands was absent, as was the slack-jawed reaction she usually received after swaying someone. It was if she'd done nothing to him. After several more failed attempts, Bo grew increasingly flustered, though her reaction escaped the guard's notice.

"You've got five minutes," the guard said roughly, interrupting Bo's quiet turmoil. "After that, it's back in the cell whether you're done or not."

They'd reached the end of the hall, where there was a secured restroom for overnight prisoners to use. Bo recalled that some rule-breakers were placed in confinement for weeks at a time, so they must be kept in a separate area of the compound.

Since her plan to sway the guard didn't work as intended, Bo decided to push her luck. "Do you think I could get these unlocked?" She asked in her sweetest voice, holding up her wrists to show him the cuffs. "You know, gotta stay clean, being a girl and all that…"

"Fine." He reached over and unfastened the cuffs around Bo's wrists before pocketing them. "You're down to four minutes, Dennis."

Bo rubbed at her sore wrists as she entered the bathroom, but she had no intention of actually using it. It was tiny and obviously intended for prisoners only, so there were no windows or mirrors around, and it was stripped of anything Bo could use as a weapon. Bo looked down at her own attire, hopeful to find something she could use to remove the cuffs from her ankles.

_What the hell am I wearing?_ Bo thought with a frown.

Gone were her trademark leather pants and low cut top; for some reason Bo was sporting a light blue button down shirt, an item of clothing she was certain that she'd never owned in her lifetime. If anything, it looked like something Lauren would wear. But that was impossible. Bo had never been to Lauren's place, and the two of them hadn't interacted at length for a couple of years. It had to belong to someone else — just another mystery Bo had to solve once she'd figured out why she'd been put in a dungeon overnight.

Bo usually carried a small dagger tucked away in her boots that would be perfect for picking locks. Kenzi taught her how to free herself with the tiny knife in less than a minute, but as her favorite footwear was missing, there was also no dagger. She frantically searched each of her pockets, hoping to find _something_ she could use. As Bo reached into her back pocket, her finger grazed against something small and metallic — a paperclip, she realized once she pulled it free. It wasn't ideal, but it would have to do.

Bo immediately went to work on the cuffs. She had no experience picking locks with paperclips, so she was dependent on manipulating the small sliver of metal into as many positions as possible to give herself the best chance of success. The seconds flew by, and the longer she worked, the more she worried that she wouldn't finish. Bo certainly didn't have a watch to time herself, though she estimated that her time would be up soon.

The metal ratchet released with an audible click, and the cuff's arm swung open, releasing its hold on Bo's ankle. With one leg freed, Bo could walk and run as usual. There simply wasn't going to be enough time to unlock the other one now, so she tucked it beneath her jeans, keeping the chain from dragging and potentially tripping her later.

A loud pounding sounded at the door. "Time's up, Dennis!" the guard shouted. "You've got ten seconds to come out, or you're getting dragged out by your hair!"

"All right, I'm coming!"

Bo took a deep breath. Once she stepped outside, she had to act fast. The second the huge guard saw that her feet were no longer bound, the game would be up. She counted to three in her head, preparing for her offensive.

_One… Two…_

Bo threw the door open with lightning speed on her third count. Just as she suspected, her move caught the guard unawares, and she was able to pounce on him quickly. Her hands instantly found the lapels of his shirt, pulling his face down to hers. There were some species of Fae that were resistant to her powers of persuasion, but every sentient Fae being was susceptible to having their chi drawn. Bo began the familiar process, hoping to incapacitate the Light Fae guard so she could make her escape.

Nothing happened.

There was no stream of blue chi, and the guard didn't get weak-kneed at Bo's touch. His initial shock was starting to wear off, however. His brain probably functioned a little slower than most, but even so, realization was starting to dawn in his eyes. Her plan was foiled.

"Shit!" Bo hissed. Her instincts took over from there; she reared her right fist back as far as she could and swung it forward. _Hard_.

Her fist connected with his jaw, making a sickening crunch as it struck. Bo was no stranger to fist fights, but she'd never landed a punch like this. The searing pain in her knuckles felt like she'd hit a boulder instead of flesh, and she instantly let out an involuntary yelp. Her attack didn't even phase the guard; Bo might as well have tickled his face with a feather for all the damage she did. She suspected that he was an ogre, but she'd always been able to hold her own against them in the past. Between her succubus powers not working and her strength being gone, Bo's situation was looking increasingly grim.

Bo cradled her fist against her chest. It was a peculiar automatic response to injury, not really doing anything to alleviate pain. While it served to protect her hand from further damage, the stance left her midsection glaringly susceptible to another strike. If Bo hadn't been preoccupied with the terrible throbbing in her hand, she would have realized the mistake sooner.

The guard's retaliation came swiftly — and painfully. While Bo's punch landed with little effect, the results almost seem doubled when he landed a hit square in the middle of Bo's abdomen. It knocked the wind from her lungs and doubled her body over all in one motion. Bo squeezed her eyes shut against the pain, and a sudden wave of nausea passed through her body, making her consciously fight against the bile that rose to the back of her throat. She wasn't sure what hurt worse — the hand or her stomach — but she was sure that the stomach was the more debilitating at the moment. Bo couldn't even muster up the strength to move. Somewhere in her subconscious she registered the cuffs being refastened around her ankles, though she couldn't resist even if she tried. When he returned his attention to her wrists, another wave of fresh pain returned from her recent injury, causing Bo to cry out.

"This is not like you, Dr. Dennis," the guard said, ignoring Bo's obvious distress. The click of the handcuffs locking around her wrists was impossibly loud, and he grabbed at Bo's shirt to pull her along the hallway yet again. "I think a little longer in the dungeon will give you some time to reconsider trying something that _stupid_ again. Then maybe if you're good, you can get back to work."

The title he used caused Bo's eyes to fly open. "I'm not a doct—"

She stopped her protest in mid-sentence upon seeing a metal pendant dangling in front of her eyes. In her hunched position, the necklace she didn't even realize she was wearing was in full view. Bo had most definitely seen it before; the last time she'd touched it, however, had been years ago. It was Lauren's _dog collar_.

"Oh shit," she whispered, loud enough for only herself to hear.

* * *

Kenzi plopped her tiny frame on the bed next to Lauren, and her grin only grew wider. Lauren, of course, pulled the sheets back up to cover herself, though Kenzi didn't seem to be surprised by the sight of her naked in bed at all.

"So, Lo-Lo…" she gave Lauren a knowing smirk. "Who was last night's lucky lady?"

Lauren gaped at her. "Excuse me?"

"The other blondie." Kenzi took a sip of her coffee and held the other mug out for Lauren to take. She eyed it warily before deducing that it was probably safe if Kenzi was drinking a mug of it as well. Lauren didn't know how Kenzi knew about her coffee preferences, but the girl had gotten it right somehow: black with two sugars. "Don't get me wrong, she's cute," Kenzi continued after Lauren's silence, "but, uh — she kinda looks like you, Wondersnatch."

_Wondersnatch?_ Lauren was either under the influence of some heavy drugs, or she was having the most bizarre dream in her entire life. She and Kenzi were _not_ friends — not by any stretch of the imagination. The best they'd ever achieved was back when they barely tolerated each other, and Lauren couldn't figure out why the girl was suddenly acting like her best friend. Ever since the incident with Bo, Kenzi always acted like Lauren had murdered her favorite puppy. At least Bo's hostility had tempered some since then, though she couldn't say the same for Kenzi's. Lauren took another sip of her coffee to cover up her confusion at the recent turn of events.

"Is that some new kink of yours? I'm not judging or anything, it's just different for you. I'm surprised the Morrigan didn't say anything about it. You could almost pass as sisters, you know."

"She's nice," Lauren said with a shrug, trying to deflect the awkwardness of the situation.

Kenzi chuckled. "And _you_, my little succubus, are a perv." Lauren's eyes widened, but the reaction escaped Kenzi's notice. "Now get your ass moving, succu-butt. We're meeting with Dyson in an hour. The lab's assistant called last night — looks like the first batch of tests are in." She swatted Lauren's thigh playfully through the sheets, signaling for her to get up.

Lauren didn't respond, but based on her limited experience with Kenzi, she didn't really need to. The girl flounced out of the room a moment later, leaving Lauren alone with her coffee and highly confused thoughts.

It couldn't have been a coincidence that Kenzi called her a succubus. In the past, she'd purposefully avoided spending time with Bo and Kenzi together after a few awkward moments early in their relationship — or whatever it was that they had. Anytime Lauren was around Kenzi, the girl wasted no opportunity to take a dig at her. She could handle it, of course — she'd endured much worse working for various Ashes — but she couldn't help but notice the different tone the girl used a few moments ago. It was jarring, and what what more: it sounded like how she always spoke to Bo.

Lauren scrambled to her feet, rushing toward the full length mirror by her closet. Other than the distinct lack of clothing, which was not how Lauren usually slept, there didn't seem to be any difference in her appearance. She even touched her face to make sure she wasn't imagining things. Lauren was thankfully still herself, though that didn't provide any explanation for this outrageous set of circumstances.

A nagging hunch was beginning to form at the back of Lauren's mind, though if her suspicions were correct, she had no idea how it happened. It appeared as if she'd been seamlessly substituted into Bo's life. Lauren never saw her new place after the move; she'd only heard that Kenzi was still living with her, which would explain the girl's presence this morning. It would explain why she woke up in bed with a stranger, and it was also the only reason she could fathom ever being on speaking terms with Dyson Thornwood. If Lauren's hypothesis was right — and she was increasingly convinced it was — that would also mean that Lauren assumed the other aspects of Bo's life, namely her succubus abilities. The idea was at once thrilling and terrifying, though she didn't know what she could do to test her theory now.

Getting dressed proved to be another interesting endeavor entirely. Lauren hadn't considered that she would also be dealing with Bo's wardrobe as well. Nothing that the other woman owned was even close to what Lauren would wear on a daily basis, and she had a hell of time finding anything she would feel comfortable with out in public. Eventually, she settled for a plain t-shirt and some dark jeans. It was the most conservative outfit in the closet, though Lauren couldn't help but wince at how far down the neckline plunged. She supposed she didn't look _that_ bad, but she felt more conspicuous than she had in years and had to constantly remind herself not to adjust her shirt every five minutes.

It did beg the question, however: If Lauren was _here_ in Bo's place, then was Bo at _her_ lab — as a human? And a doctor, no less?

Lauren groaned. She'd be lucky if her labs hadn't burned to the ground by the time she got there. She'd rightly deduced that her staff ran the preliminary tests on their own, as was customary, but if this was the same case Bo presented to her yesterday, the brunette didn't stand a chance in hell at solving it on her own. For now, Lauren just needed to act natural until she could figure out why their worlds were suddenly turned upside down.

"Seriously… What has gotten into you this morning, Lo?" Kenzi asked as she emerged from the bedroom, bringing Lauren out of her private thoughts. A moment later, she shook her head, as clearing an unpleasant image from her mind. "Never mind — don't answer that."

"I don't know."

Lauren went to pull the neckline of her shirt up to a more comfortable level, but stilled her movements halfway, realizing that Bo wouldn't have done so. She forced her hands to stay at her side as she approached Kenzi, who was busy polishing off a bowl of Honeyberry Crunch.

"Listen, Lo. Is this about having to see Dr. Speculum again?" she asked. "I know I kind of left you hanging yesterday with D-man, but if it'll make you feel better, I can run interference today." She brandished her spoon wildly, waving it about like a sword. "Bitch is gonna get cut if she tries anything. There ain't gonna be no funny business when the Kenz is around!"

It was an odd experience for Lauren, hearing the private insults that were only intended for Bo's ears. She knew that Kenzi never liked her much, but hearing the way she must have spoken about her in Bo's company hurt in ways she didn't expect. Lauren figured it was because the casualness with which she hurled the scornful words suggested that she'd been doing it for a long time. Obviously Bo never saw fit to correct her at any point, which stung more than Lauren cared to admit. Her more fatalistic side even suspected that Bo partook in the lambasting as well.

Lauren wasn't about to let the girl's words get to her, however. She was perfectly capable of maintaining a calm facade, even if inside she was reeling. Whether Lauren liked it or not, Kenzi could also be a source of answers for Lauren. Hell, she hadn't even recognized this condo before noticing her presence, and she would surely need to know more about Bo's life if she didn't want to arouse suspicion. Despite the fact that Lauren wasn't exactly human at the moment (a fact that she still couldn't get used to yet), if anyone suspected her of being a human stealing powers from a Fae, things could still end very badly for her. If the Light Fae followed their own customs, that kind of "sacrilege" could even be punishable by death.

"It's fine Kenzi," Lauren said in a neutral tone. "You can come if you want, but I'm capable of handling things by myself."

"You sure? I know how weird you get around her."

"I'm positive. Let's just hurry, we're going to be late."

Lauren grabbed the familiar car keys from the table and turned to the door. She didn't make it three steps before she heard the thud of Kenzi's boots against the floor.

"Wait, Lo!" Kenzi called after her. "You forgot your purse!"

Lauren frowned. Bo didn't carry a purse, as far as she knew, but Kenzi usually carried one that was big enough for both of them. The succubus always kept her phone tucked away in her cleavage — Lauren opted for her back pocket instead — and she hid her money and keys inside her jacket pocket. If she'd deviated from that pattern recently, Lauren certainly hadn't noticed it. She probably noticed Bo more than was emotionally healthy, given the fact that they'd barely spoken to each other since their incident a few years back.

She turned to face Kenzi, whose hand was up in the air, dangling the straps of Bo's signature thigh dagger. Her grin was wide and teasing.

"Can't leave without the six-inch. We're paranormal hot-vestigators — gotta be ready for anything." She handed off the scabbard to Lauren before slinging her own katana across her back.

"Thanks, Kenzi," Lauren muttered. She hoped Kenzi didn't notice her tightening the strap around her thigh by a couple of notches.

Once they'd exited the building, Lauren fortunately recognized the neighborhood. She'd initially worried that she wouldn't be able to find the compound, but she quickly realized that they'd somehow ended up in one of the wealthier areas of neutral territory. While they probably could afford the place on their own now, Lauren got the impression that certain Fae political strings were pulled to secure the housing. It seemed Bo really had achieved legendary status in the Fae world.

And knowing what she knew about Bo, Lauren quite rightly suspected that Bo was liable to blow a gasket at any minute. Despite her initial reluctance in embracing her Fae heritage, the woman was enraptured with the world now and wouldn't take kindly to being forcibly humanized. For all of Bo's accomplishments, she still had little understanding of the society she played such a vital role in. Lauren was accustomed to ill-treatment and could handle it; Bo was more stubborn and antagonistic when others went against her. If she pissed off the wrong Fae as a slave without any powers, there was a good possibility she'd get herself killed.

Lauren let Kenzi chatter endlessly, only half-listening as she rehashed a story about her "date" (the girl refused to label it as such) with Hale. From what Lauren registered, the two of them shared a rather innocuous night at the Dal drinking and flirting over a game of pool, ending the evening with an awkwardly cute taxi ride home and a kiss, which sounded like nothing more than a friendly peck. Lauren patiently listened to Kenzi's breakdown and analysis of the entire evening, providing a socially appropriate "ooh" or an "ahh" when necessary. Kenzi didn't relent until she spotted the shifter in the distance. Kenzi waved excitedly at him, whereas Lauren's face set in a hard line. Dyson's face lit up in contentment, and he rushed forward to meet them.

This would be difficult, Lauren realized. As much as she detested Dyson (and everything that he represented to her), Bo still favored him, and she had to act natural — as natural as possible, at least.

"Lauren," he said with a bright smile. "How are you?"

The air around Dyson was practically glowing as he addressed her, and he reached around with his arm to press a hand against the small of Lauren's back. That must have been what a bright aura looked like, the blonde realized with a sickening lurch of her stomach. She instantly recoiled from his touch, and a hot flash of anger ran beneath her skin and behind her eyes. He flinched, pulling his arm away with a hurt look.

"Are you feeling all right?" he asked, glancing at her eyes curiously. Lauren was grateful that the heavy glow she'd noticed earlier had faded to almost nothing in just a few seconds.

"I'm fine," Lauren said in a clipped tone.

The blonde could tolerate Kenzi's disdain, mostly because the girl didn't know any better yet. As a human, she'd led a sheltered life amongst the Fae — thanks to Bo, of course. Dyson on the other hand, perpetuated many of the Fae's most worst characteristics willingly. He was enamored with Bo, and thus was kind to Kenzi by proxy. Lauren didn't receive the benefit of that treatment. She'd been a rival for Bo's affections at best, and now that she couldn't even claim that, she was simply a slave in the Ash's collection to him. Though the circumstances of their relationship had magically changed overnight, Lauren hadn't forgotten their history like he did.

"You seem upset." He reached forward, as if to caress Lauren's forearm but seemed to think better of it and wisely returned his hand to his side. "Did I do something wrong?"

"I'm fine," Lauren repeated, deciding it was better to leave his question unanswered. "Let's just get this over with already."

Kenzi and Dyson flanked her at either side as she led the way to the medical labs. It was disconcerting how many Fae called out to her and gave her appreciative nods in the compounds wide halls. Most of them wouldn't have spared her a second glance a day ago, but now they went out of their way to show their appreciation. Lauren had to keep reminding herself that it was really Bo's character they were reacting to, not hers. The anticipation of seeing Bo again caused Lauren's skin to tingle, even though she suspected the meeting itself would be far from pleasant.

When Lauren entered the medical labs, she immediately found Bo perched at her workstation. The staff were giving her a wide berth, all of them eying her warily. The blonde shuddered to think what the woman did to them to earn that sort of treatment. Bo's face was buried in one of her hands, and she looked about ready to start pulling her own hair out at any second. Lauren had woken up in the dungeons on more than one occasion; for an inexperienced Bo, it had to have been even more tortuous. She hesitated for an instant, letting Dyson and Kenzi approach slightly in front of her.

"Dr. Dennis," Dyson called out to her to get her attention. His voice didn't carry its usual pleasant timbre as it did when addressing Bo, but her head still popped up in recognition.

"Oh… Dyson, Kenzi — thank the gods." She smiled in relief and rushed forward. "You would not _believe_ the morning I've had."

"Dude, what the Fae?" Kenzi muttered, loud enough for only Lauren and Dyson to hear.

Bo was oblivious to their icy reception, and stepped into Dyson's personal space to throw her arms around him. The wolf's reflexes were sharp; with one smooth movement of his hands, he deflected her embrace, stepping away with an appalled look on his face. A flash of hurt crossed Bo's features after the brushoff, and she turned to Kenzi, who was wearing an equally unwelcome expression.

"What the hell is the matter with you guys today?" Bo asked incredulously. "Please — I need your help!" She glanced at her best friend and her ex, who were unmoved by her distressed plea. "Kenzi?"

The girl sighed: "Listen doc, it sounds like you've been doing too many experiments without your respirator thingy. Lo-Lo and I are just here to pick up those test results from last night, so if you could… you know… like fetch, or something… that would be fan-freaking-tastic. This place is creepy as hell." She shuddered exaggeratedly for theatrical effect.

At the mention of Lauren's new "nickname," Bo's eyes darted around the two visitors, eventually settling on the blonde. Lauren expected her to react badly, but she couldn't have fathomed the seething look Bo gave her. Even though Lauren physically had the upper hand now, it still startled her momentarily.

"_You_," Bo hissed at her. "_You _did this!"

She made a move toward Lauren, and both Dyson and Kenzi stepped in front of her instinctively in a show of protection. There were a flurry of angry retorts coming from all sides. If Lauren didn't intervene soon, the situation would only escalate further. None of the three people in front of her were cool and clear-headed during a crisis. This qualified as such in Lauren's opinion, and it was her responsibility to diffuse it. After all, she was unknowingly part of the conflict in the first place.

"Dyson, Kenzi — that's enough," Lauren said firmly. Silence fell at her words, and they all looked at her expectantly. "I'd like to speak with Bo in private for a moment."

Kenzi glared at Bo accusingly, running her hand along the handle of her katana in a threatening motion. "Are you sure, Lauren? I can come with you, if you want."

"I'll be fine, Kenzi — but thank you." Lauren never let her eyes waver from Bo's for an instant. "You and Dyson can wait outside. I'll meet you there in a few minutes."

"Call me if you need anything," Dyson whispered on his way out, but Lauren ignored him.

Lauren and Bo stayed silent while the others retreated. As soon as they were gone, Lauren gestured to one of the private exam rooms off to the side of the labs, knowing that they wouldn't be interrupted while they were inside. Bo followed wordlessly, though her severe expression hadn't softened any. She seemed to realize now that not making a scene in public was in her best interests, though Lauren could tell she was itching to unleash a verbal assault on her. She braced herself for whatever Bo was about to throw at her, knowing full well that they would probably be trudging up years worth of slights and personal grudges. The blonde took a deep, steadying breath and closed the door behind her. Bo didn't waste a single second before rounding on Lauren.

"What did you do to me?" she snapped.

Lauren shook her head calmly. "I didn't do anything, Bo."

"Bullshit! You know more about the Fae than anyone I know! You could have easily used some sort of magical what's-it to get back at me because I sure as _hell _didn't do this! Somehow, you've switched us… Now you're living it up in my condo, while I'm dicking around with petri dishes. You're Fae, and I'm—"

"— you're _what_, Bo? Human?!" Lauren cut her off loudly, causing the brunette to shut up instantly. "There is _nothing_ that I could have concocted that would not only swap our species, but also change the memories of every person around us. Scientifically, it's not possible. This confuses me just as much as it does you. I know you don't like me very much, but try to be realistic here."

Bo rolled her eyes. "Okay, well _realistically_, let's just say that I woke up in a dungeon, got sucker-punched by an ogre and dragged away by my hair. What does the wise and infallible Lauren Lewis have to say about that?" Her tone was dripping with condescension, and she glared at Lauren petulantly.

Lauren scoffed at the reaction and folded her arms in front of her chest. "Well, speaking from first-hand experience, it sounds to me like you got off pretty easy on your first day. But then again, what would I know about it?"

Bo looked away pointedly, and Lauren waited for her to come up with another angry response. None came, however, and the silence dragged on between them. The only sound was the steady hum of the air conditioner overhead, and after a couple of minutes, it's steady drone became overwhelming. Instead of prolonging Bo's anguish further, Lauren decided to take pity on her.

"Look," Lauren continued, her voice losing some of its edge. "I know as much as you do about what's going on, and I feel just as lost as you right now. But like it or not, Bo — we're somehow connected in all of this, and if we're going to figure this out, then we need to help each other. I have a feeling that neither one of us is going to survive very long unless we do."

It was the truth, Lauren realized. Bo was most obviously at risk, given her sudden humanity, but Lauren didn't know exactly how to navigate the complex social and political environment that the brunette did on a regular basis. Not to mention, Lauren needed to help Bo pass as a competent physician, and Bo needed to teach Lauren about being a succubus before she started her own body count.

Lauren took a step toward Bo, and said: "Let's put old grudges behind us, okay? As soon as we figure this out, we can go back to normal. I'll be the human, you'll be the succubus, and you can go back to hating me again." She smiled sadly at the summary of events.

Bo finally looked up to meet Lauren's eyes. "I don't hate you," she said in a small voice.

There was something peculiar there in Bo's look, something unnervingly familiar. Lauren couldn't quite place where she'd seen it before. It didn't last long, though. The moment passed swiftly, and the uneasiness between them took over again. Bo stared into the ground determinedly.

"Right," Lauren said with a single nod of her head. "Well, I guess I'll pick up those test results and get going."

"Oh yeah," Bo said, as if just remembering why Lauren came in the first place. "Here, let me get it for you."

Bo reached past Lauren to grab the door handle and let out a strangled yelp as she squeezed it. Lauren's eyes widened in alarm, and she moved closer to Bo to examine the injury. Her face was contorted in pain and she held the hand tightly against her chest for protection. Lauren gently pulled at Bo's wrists.

"Let me see," she instructed.

Bo debated for a couple of seconds, but eventually, she relaxed her stance and surrendered her hurt hand to Lauren. Her appraisal was clinical, though neither of them could help the goosebumps that rose to their skin at the contact. It was the first time they'd actually touched each other since that night, a fact that didn't escape either woman's notice. Bo watched Lauren's fingers work over hers in fascination, though her concentration was interrupted when she pressed on a particularly sore spot on the side of her hand.

"Owww, shit!" Bo cried out. "Was that entirely necessary?"

Lauren ignored the question. "How did that happen, Bo?"

"An ogre."

"I thought you said you got sucker-punched by an ogre."

Bo shrugged. "Well, I _might_ have punched him first."

"Bo!"

"Hey, I messed him up pretty good," Bo lied. "He got one lucky shot in, but I made mine count."

"Uh huh."

Lauren released her hand and moved toward the cabinets, rummaging through her medical equipment. Bo didn't have the slightest idea where anything was kept, but Lauren knew exactly where to go to find what she needed. She returned a moment later with a bizarre assortment of materials — Bo only recognized a bottle of sterile water.

"What's that for?" Bo asked curiously.

"It's a casting kit, Bo… It looks like your hand is broken."

"You don't have to worry about it, I can just feed off of…" Bo trailed off, realizing that her usual solution to healing wouldn't work anymore. She hadn't healed an injury the old-fashioned way since she ran away from home after high school and she was deathly afraid of feeding. Now, she healed the succubus way regularly — or used to. "Nevermind. Shit."

"It doesn't seem to be displaced, which is good," Lauren explained. "To be safe, you should wear a splint for a couple of weeks. And I would recommend not hitting anyone with that hand again for at least a month and a half."

Bo's eyes widened. "You think I'm gonna be stuck like this for a month and a half?!"

"We'll see. It may take some time to figure this out." The brunette groaned loudly, causing Lauren to chuckle. "Welcome to team human, Bo."


	3. New Beginnings

Lauren never worked under the influence of alcohol. It was professionally irresponsible, and as a doctor, it would have endangered the lives of her patients.

Yet, here she was — at the Dal, and about to finish her fourth mug of the Dal's famous buckthorn mead - and that was after their initial rounds of shots. Kenzi tipped the bottom of the glass up higher when Lauren raised it to her mouth, forcing her to drink faster. She hadn't put away so much alcohol this quickly since her college days, and she nearly choked from being out of practice for so long.

"That's my girl, Lo," Kenzi said proudly. She gave the blonde a rough slap on the back while she finished spluttering.

The room wasn't spinning yet, but Lauren was certain if she kept up at her current rate, it wouldn't be long before it started. Kenzi had mentioned getting "a couple of drinks before working the case," but Lauren had no idea _this _was what she had in mind. Without asking, Kenzi waved over their bartender to order another round. A moment later, Hale came lumbering along.

Ever since the siren had been deposed as Ash, he'd had a hard time finding a new career. The elders no longer trusted him, and his pompous father even disowned him. Trick was gracious enough to let him manage the Dal Riata after he was crowned Ash; Hale had taken to the job well, and the place was thriving more than ever. Lauren wasn't usually privy to this sort of inside information, so today was the first she'd heard about it. She didn't realize until she saw the siren cleaning glasses behind the bar — much the same way that Trick did when he used to man the way station.

"You doing okay Lauren?" Hale chuckled, handing her and Kenzi another frosted mug. He must have noticed how glazed over her eyes were. Lauren was trying to feign sobriety, but she wasn't sure how successful she was in that effort.

"M'fine," Lauren mumbled.

"Yeah, whatever you say," he chuckled. "You two celebrating something?"

Kenzi answered for them both: "No, we are just loosening up our brains so we can crack this case."

"Lil' mama, you and I need to have a conversation about your drinking habits."

Lauren giggled to herself. "More like you need to give her a CAGE questionnaire." Her little joke was met with nothing but confused looks from both Kenzi and Hale, and suddenly Lauren realized her misstep. "Haven't you guys ever watched Grey's Anatomy before?" she quipped, hoping to cover herself.

Hale and Kenzi exchanged skeptical looks, but they let the comment pass. A moment later, Hale spotted someone off in the distance and waved them over. "Yo, D-man!" he called out to his best friend.

Lauren groaned; luckily, the steady hubbub in the bar was loud enough to cover it. She nearly flew out of her seat when a large hand came to rest on her shoulder, causing her to stumble. His aura was bright again, and as his hand shot out to keep her from hitting the ground, Lauren fought against the urge to retch.

"Whoa, easy Lauren," Dyson said in his most soothing voice. The moment Lauren was stable on her feet, she wriggled out of his grasp. "Is everything all right here?"

"I think your girl is a little tipsy," Hale teased. "I didn't know they were planning to work a case after this."

Dyson gave Kenzi and Lauren a scolding look. "Are you serious right now?" he asked them both. "I took time off work for this. The least you could do is not be screwing around when it's time to work."

"Hey, I am one hundred percent fine," Kenzi replied, holding her hands up in a gesture of innocence.

Lauren hiccuped, and the motion caused her to wobble precariously on her feet, earning a laugh from Hale and Kenzi. Dyson, on the other hand, was not amused.

"Look I took those reports down to the station." He waved a set of papers around in his free hand, as if it wasn't entirely obvious what he meant. "There were some trace chemicals in the body — kind of weird stuff that we don't see around here every day. I ran a check to see what companies in the area have the necessary clearance to buy it. We've got potassium —"

"Let me see," Lauren interrupted him and motioned for the report.

Dyson simply raised one eyebrow at her incredulously but made no move to hand it over. The arrogant gesture was a masculine habit of his that Lauren always found particularly irritating. In the past, she thankfully never had to tolerate it much — not like she did now. Lauren tried unsuccessfully to keep the growing annoyance out of her voice.

"Was what I just said in any way unclear?" she snapped.

The wolf got the message the second time around, and Lauren deftly worked through each page. Unlike Dyson, who had little to no experience working in a lab, Lauren knew how to analyze the contents completely. She could tell from the little notes he'd scribbled in the margins that he had practically no idea what he was really looking at. Lauren figured it out after the second page, even working with a sizable amount of alcohol circulating in her system.

"Huh… they used an adjuvant…" Lauren mused to herself. She was so caught up in the science that she'd briefly forgotten her present company, who was looking at her like she'd had just sprouted a second head. "It's genius, really."

Hale whistled. Meanwhile, Dyson and Kenzi stared at her dumfounded.

"Nerd alert, Lo," Kenzi said, stepping forward to take the report from her as if she might hurt herself with it. "You keep saying shit like that, and we're gonna have to schedule a decontamination to get rid of all those doc cooties that rubbed off on you yesterday. Shit girl, we only left you alone with her for half an hour… what kind of crap did she pull on you this time?"

Kenzi was fishing for an insult, but Lauren wasn't going to give her the satisfaction. Dyson even bristled at the girl's comment, stepping closer to Lauren to put his arm around her in a comforting gesture. Lauren was having none of it. She easily sidestepped the embrace, confusing both Kenzi and Dyson. Hale had graciously excused himself from the private conversation moments ago and was busy serving other patrons at the other side of the bar.

"Lauren she didn't…" Dyson trailed off, waiting for Lauren to answer his unspoken question. He seemed hesitant to voice his concern, as if saying it out loud might confirm his nefarious suspicions.

Kenzi, on the other hand, had no such reservations.

"Did she pull out her old tricks again? I knew it. You can't trust her, Lo. I leave you alone with her for two minutes, and she just —"

"I have to go," Lauren cut Kenzi off, snatching the report back from her. "I'll see you later."

The crude remark wasn't surprising coming from Kenzi. Of course Bo would have told her what happened — and of course she would have provided her own snide interpretation of events. Despite Lauren's efforts to explain herself, Bo shut her out and commiserated with Kenzi and Dyson, neither of whom ever liked Lauren very much. It was humiliating… infuriating… distasteful… Lauren rarely let her anger get the best of her, but the accusations from these two were pushing the limits of her patience. She turned to leave but was pulled back by her arm.

"Wait a second, succu-butt, you're not going anywhere, at least not by yourself. We're a team," Kenzi said. "And you're tipsy."

"I'll call a cab."

Dyson said: "Lauren, don't be ridiculous. I could drive you."

"No."

"Well, if you don't let me drive you then at least sober yourself up before you go. As a cop, I can't knowingly let you walk out of here under the influence." Dyson smirked suggestively at her and stepped closer. His aura flared again, taking Lauren by surprise — but not in a good way.

"Excuse me?"

He moved even closer again, invading Lauren's personal space. "You should at least feed. I told the captain I was taking a long lunch. If you want to go to the back room for a little bit we could… you know…" His eyebrows raised suggestively, and his eyes flitted to the secluded hallway behind the bar.

The prospect of being physically intimate with Dyson was absolutely horrifying. Lauren didn't even need to think; she instinctively shoved him away with a single hand in the center of his chest. She might have done it more forcefully than necessary, but she was still adjusting to her newfound strength and didn't realize how hard she'd pushed. He stumbled backward several steps and looked back at Lauren with an expression somewhere between annoyance and hurt.

"Absolutely not, Dyson!"

"What's going on with you recently?" he asked quietly, trying to mask his injured pride. "I know you don't want to be with anyone right now — and that's okay, I can wait — but why are you being like _this_ all of a sudden? We can still follow our rules, Lauren. Please."

His tone was practically begging, and though Lauren couldn't make herself feel any legitimate sympathy for him, the situation she found herself in was becoming increasingly clear. It was just one more thing she would need to discuss with Bo. He would undoubtedly keep advancing if Lauren ignored the issue, and until she and Bo figured out how to reverse the mess they'd stumbled into, Lauren would also have to tolerate him being in her life at least temporarily. She couldn't do that if he was going to continue trying to get into her pants every five minutes.

"I'm not talking about this right now," Lauren said firmly. "I'll see you two later." She brushed by them quickly, before they had another chance to stop her, however Dyson wasn't going to give up so easily.

"But you need to feed!"

A woman standing by the door caught Lauren's eye, and a sudden wave of desire rushed over her unlike anything she'd ever experienced. The woman didn't seem to be particularly enjoying her present company, judging by her body language. She ran her hands through her sleek brown hair in a way that was positively sinful. Lauren felt a warmth spread through her body, and a blue glow surrounded the far edges of her vision.

"I think I can figure this out on my own," Lauren muttered to herself, not caring much if Dyson or Kenzi heard it.

Barely a minute later, Lauren was escorting the stranger to the Dal's barrel room while Kenzi and Dyson stared at her in stunned disbelief. The loud slamming of the door drowned out most of the sound outside and cast the two women into semi-darkness. Neither of them said a word, but as if by some unstoppable gravity between them, their bodies flew together instantly.

Lauren was usually more cognizant of her actions when she was intimate with someone. She knew how to find any of the numerous female erogenous zones, using the subtle sighs and moans she elicited to map her way around each of her lovers. It was so hard to focus on that now; there was only the all consuming fire in her veins that increased in intensity every time their kisses got deeper or she touched another warm patch of skin. It was impossible to focus on anything else. In the more logical corner of her brain, Lauren knew that this was her hunger manifesting, though her rational thoughts were getting harder to hear with the overwhelming stimuli crowding out everything else.

In her haste to remove the other woman's clothing, Lauren ended up knocking them both into Trick's bookshelf and then to the floor, bringing various other trinkets and Fae artifacts down with a loud crash. It was all amusing to the brunette, who laughed heartily at the clumsy maneuver. She straddled Lauren on the dusty wood floor, effectively halting her movements.

"You know," she chuckled, "This is my first time with a succubus. Is your species always this _eager_?" She reached to her shirt and flung it off with one smooth movement and grinned widely. "If so, this could get really interesting."

"Ohmygod," Lauren whispered, closing her eyes tightly.

She didn't know it was even possible for the burning hunger to grow stronger. If Lauren succumbed to it, she didn't know how on earth she would be able to stop. This woman was a Fae, but Lauren could still kill her. Little did the woman know that this was her first time in this unusual position as well. Lauren balled her hands into fists to focus her energy elsewhere, but it was having little effect. The sensation of the woman moving on top of her was too much, and her aura was blinding.

The brunette looked at Lauren with amusement. "A hungry succubus? Lucky me." She grabbed one of Lauren's clenched hands and directed it exactly where she wanted, and at that point, all coherent thought stopped.

Lauren pulled her down roughly, crashing their lips together. As Lauren took each hurried breath, she unconsciously pulled hard, interrupted bursts of chi. When Bo had done it during her training, she'd managed to pull a slow, steady stream of blue chi — which was apparently more pleasurable, though Lauren couldn't vouch for it first-hand. She wasn't entirely sure of the mechanics behind that method and simply did what came most natural to her at the moment. Each time she pulled greedily, the other woman let out a moan resulting from some heady combination of pleasure and pain.

There was no other feeling that compared. The feed was was the highest high she'd ever physically experienced and was the only thing that would quell the raging desires within her. She knew she _should_ stop, but she didn't want to. She never wanted to. Lauren was lost to the sensations and lost all track of time and even her own movements.

Eventually, it was the body on top of her slackening and collapsing that snapped her out of her trance. Lauren instantly thought the worst but was reassured when she saw the woman's bra-clad chest heaving up and down while she came down from her climax.

"Wow," the brunette gasped breathlessly. "So as far as first times go, that was one of my favorites. I would _definitely_ be up for doing that again." Her breath tickled Lauren's ear, making her shiver.

There was room for improvement, Lauren knew. She would need work, especially on control. Her hunger situation hadn't been dire just now, and she'd still nearly lost herself. Had it been a life-threatening situation, or had she been severely deprived of chi, it might have been disastrous. But her mind was clearer now than it had been before, and she felt physically invigorated. The entire process was fascinating to experience from a scientific perspective, and Lauren's curiosity was piqued. She couldn't wait to learn to control it so she could evaluate her experiences more thoroughly.

"I guess for the first time, it wasn't _too_ bad," Lauren mused to herself.

* * *

Bo cringed when she heard the tenth knock on her door today. She'd initially been elated to discover that she didn't have to pretend to play doctor with patients today, more than happy to hole herself away in her office and avoid having to show her face in the lab. The lab's assistants found her, however, and they didn't leave her alone for long. Bo couldn't get more than fifteen minutes of peace and quiet before another person came barging in, asking her for her opinion on something or bringing in another assignment. Bo deflected the best she could, but the growing stack of papers on her desk was getting harder to ignore.

To make matters worse, the phone never stopped ringing either. Every five minutes, another call came in requesting Bo to do something — something she didn't know how to do, of course. Instead of quickly responding, she ended up taking notes on post-its and sticking them around the perimeter of her computer screen, which was an even more difficult task with the splint on her hand. The yellow slips of paper were now completely encircling the large monitor, and Bo would have to find another place before they starting taking over all of her office accessories.

"Come in," Bo groaned loud enough for her visitor to hear outside. Bo's new least favorite person, the always-nameless Boston Harpy, slipped inside a moment later wearing her trademark scowl.

"The results of your genome analysis on the genus _Gorgoneae_ just came back from the Fae medical headquarters."

Bo blinked at her several times waiting for further elaboration, but none was forthcoming. She had no idea what that meant, much less what she was supposed to do with the information. "Well, what does it say?" Bo asked, with a twinge of agitation.

The Boston Harpy dropped the thick report on her desk unceremoniously, making the pile so high that it started to lean a little under its own weight. She glared at Bo accusingly as if scolding her for the huge mess of unfinished work.

"I'm not the resident geneticist around here, Dr. Dennis. That would be your job." She eyed the papers again, and said: "And by the looks of things, someone hasn't been doing theirs recently. I suggest that you get on that soon. The Ash isn't going to be thrilled if work isn't getting done around here."

"Could you at least help me?"

"That's not what I get paid for." The Boston Harpy turned to exit swiftly, but she halted in the doorway and turned around to face Bo once again. "No offense, Doctor, but did you get hit on your head when you went down to the dungeons the other day? You've been acting strangely."

Bo stiffened in her seat, and kept her expression as neutral as possible. "No, I didn't."

The lab's assistant folded her arms across her chest. "Huh."

There was an incredibly awkward silence between the two as the Boston Harpy stared Bo down suspiciously. She was searching for something, Bo knew, some sign that would tell her why the doctor wasn't as proficient as she normally was. Bo knew the reason, of course, as did Lauren, but neither the medical staff nor the Ash did. Bo needed to start pretending better if she planned on fooling any of them. She maintained unflinching eye contact with the Boston Harpy, as if daring her to make an accusation. Eventually, the Fae assistant relented.

"Well, we've got patients coming in from eight to five o'clock tomorrow, so I suggest you handle this —" the Boston Harpy gestured to the enormous pile of unfinished assignments on Bo's desk, "— before you leave today."

She didn't wait for Bo's dismissal. After she'd said her part, she left for the lab, leaving Bo alone once again.

Bo eyed the report warily and gingerly picked up the thick stack of papers. In all, it totaled around fifty pages by her estimate. She didn't recognize eighty percent of the words in the title alone, and she didn't fare much better reading the rest of it. There weren't even any pictures — just fifty pages of tiny, black and white text that caused a headache just looking at it. Googling the words she didn't understand only returned more results she couldn't comprehend, adding to Bo's growing sense of inadequacy.

Several times Bo seriously debated calling Lauren for help, but each time she considered picking up the phone, her pride got the best of her and she decided against it. She would rather face whatever punishment the Ash sent her way than admit she was in way over her head. Knowing Lauren, she probably wasn't having any difficulties adjusting to Bo's life. The brunette honestly didn't know how she might react… Would she be amused at Bo's incompetence? Annoyed? Angry? The one reaction Bo worried about was pity. She didn't think she could handle Lauren looking at her like that, and she threw the report back down with a frustrated sigh.

"How's it going?" a familiar voice sounded from the doorway. Bo hadn't heard her approach, but her heart started beating faster at the woman's words.

_Speak of the devil_, Bo thought miserably. She cursed herself for still being affected by Lauren — like the way her sleek blonde hair rested just in front of her shoulders and begged to be touched, or the way her hip jutted out teasingly just a little as she leaned against the door frame. It was almost as if Lauren knew how to push her buttons. Bo took a deep, steadying breath and steeled herself against Lauren's inevitable reaction.

"It's going fine," Bo said shortly. "Great, actually."

Lauren skeptically glanced at the massive pile of unfinished work on the desk and then let her eyes drift to the array of post-its littering the computer screen. "Are you sure?"

Bo hesitated. There was certainly concern in Lauren's expression, but she wasn't sure if she was imagining the pity in her eyes. It stung to even consider the possibility. "I'm positive." She busied herself with the papers, clumsily shuffling them around with her one good hand to give the impression that she was hard at work.

"If you say so."

After several minutes, Bo successfully moved the entire collection of papers on her desk from the right side to the left, a pointless exercise that was meant as a cue for dismissal. She expected Lauren to leave at some point afterward, but she didn't. When Bo looked up, Lauren was still loitering in the doorway and watching her movements closely.

"Look, what do you want?" Bo asked exasperatedly.

"Officially, I'm here for your help." Lauren held up the report she retrieved from the lab earlier. "But it seems like you're busy." She glanced at Bo's desk once more. "Really busy," she revised. "You know I could take care of some of this, if you want. Most of this stuff I was already working on before —"

"That won't be necessary."

"Bo —"

"Listen, I've got enough people here treating me like I'm a total moron, all right? I don't need you doing it too. You've got alphabet soup behind your name, and I don't even have a high school diploma. No need to rub it in."

The brunette looked away quickly, unable to bear whatever look Lauren was sure to be giving her. She expected some sort of comeback, however. Yet her impulsive retort was met with nothing but silence. When Bo glanced back up, Lauren had her arms folded across her chest and was wearing an unreadable expression. Bo couldn't tell if she was angry, hurt, or just plain didn't care. Lauren didn't speak even after Bo shot her an apologetic look.

"Sorry," Bo muttered, mostly to break the uncomfortable silence.

Lauren's kept her challenging demeanor, and she said: "I understand that you're upset, Bo, but we're not going to solve anything if you keep accusing me of things I haven't done. I never said that you were a moron, and I don't believe that you are one. You've got a different kind of intelligence that doesn't come from books. I believe that you're clever enough to get through this if you had a little guidance. But still, all of that cleverness isn't going to make up for ten years of medical training. That doesn't make you stupid."

The words hung in the air for a while as Bo debated whether or not to accept her help. The more impulsive side of her wanted to rebel, to refuse Lauren's offer outright. But the longer Bo reflected on it, the more she allowed herself to consider the idea. The only downside was that she would have to face Lauren more often, which she wasn't entirely sure she was ready for yet. Forgiving Lauren would make the entire ordeal easier, of course, but it would require Bo revisit memories she'd successfully buried for years.

"Ten years of medical training, really? After this is all over, please get my head examined if I ever want to become a real doctor," Bo chuckled to cover her indecision.

"Bo."

"Okay, fine," she relented, waving her bandaged hand in the air. "Stay. Help. Do what you need to do."

Lauren nodded and took a step further into the office.

"Has Rita told you that you'll be seeing patients tomorrow?"

Bo frowned. "Who?"

"Rita. My — _your_ — assistant," Lauren said, correcting herself. "Tall, brownish hair, glasses…"

"Boston Harpy girl?"

Lauren nodded. "Yes, but you shouldn't call her that to her face. The harpies are very sensitive about their species. Calling someone a 'harpy,' whether technically accurate or not, has been used as a damning insult in the Fae world for centuries."

"Well, shit," Bo said with a dramatic sigh. "I guess that explains why she hates my guts then."

"If she heard you, then yes, I would assume so."

"Mental note to self — don't do that again," Bo actually grinned at the humorous self-admonishment, and to her surprise Lauren did as well. The sight made Bo's stomach flutter in a way it hadn't in a long time. She even didn't realize that she was staring at Lauren; it was so easy to do, especially when Bo wasn't pissed at her.

A moment later, Lauren's expression turned curious, and she lifted a questioning eyebrow at her.

"Umm, Bo?" Lauren said uneasily.

"Hmm?"

"You're… you're kind of… glowing…" The words came out slow, as if Lauren was reluctant to say them aloud.

Bo blinked, working through the meaning behind her words. Then she realized with a sudden wave of horror what Lauren was referring to. It was something Bo never had to worry about when Lauren was human. Now that the tables had turned, Lauren was the one who could read auras. The flickers of attraction Bo felt were every bit as visible to Lauren as a street sign, and she was certain she'd unthinkingly flashed at least a seven on her patented scale.

"Shit," Bo mumbled. "Shit! I didn't mean… Shit."

"It's fine, I just wasn't expecting…"

Bo's embarrassment was reaching new heights, and though she couldn't see her own face, her skin felt like it was burning. She changed the subject as fast as humanly possible. "So, tomorrow — how is that supposed to go?" She stared at her fidgeting hands in her lap, too ashamed to look Lauren in the eye at the moment.

Thankfully for Bo, Lauren didn't mention the incident again. She did however, outline what Bo needed to do the following day, giving her a careful synopsis of each patient since she'd been treating them for years and knew them best. Most were arriving for simple reasons: check-ups or medication refills. However, Bo did get a little worried when Lauren mentioned a Will-o'-the-Wisp with severe IBS. He was often noncompliant with the strict diet she recommended, and Lauren suggested that Bo either have a fire extinguisher or a flame retardant blanket handy when she saw him (for her own safety). Bo took notes as best she could with her injured hand while Lauren briefed her on the patients she would see tomorrow, telling her what she would need to do in every conceivable situation. With the splint in place, her penmanship was nearly illegible, but Bo thought the untidy scrawl would at least be effective in jogging her memory.

"So what's the deal with that?" Bo asked, gesturing to the papers Lauren still had clutched firmly in her hand. "I thought you got what you needed earlier."

"These are just the basic results," Lauren explained. "I suspect that whoever made this toxin used a substance a little more exotic than would be detected by the usual tests we run here. The Light keep a thorough database on all of the medical purchases and research projects undertaken by all Fae corporations, and I want to see if there's a record of anyone having what I think might be involved."

"Oooookay." Bo rolled the high-backed leather chair away from the desk to give Lauren access to the computer. "Have at it."

Lauren nodded and stepped forward into the vacated spot. The office wasn't large enough to afford them much personal space, which put them in closer proximity than either of them was particularly comfortable with. Bo could smell the pleasant aroma of Lauren's shampoo, but it was tinged with another acrid smell that Bo recognized well. It only got stronger when Lauren leaned over to begin typing.

"Lauren, you smell like straight up liquor," Bo said. "It's not even noon yet. Were you drinking before this?"

The sounds of Lauren tapping the keyboard stopped for a few seconds. Her answer was short and to the point. "I was at the Dal."

"…With Kenzi," Bo finished for her.

"Yes. She insisted I join her."

"Did you get drunk?" Bo asked incredulously. "You either have the best tolerance in the world, or —" she paused, realizing the more likely reason, "— or… you fed."

This time, it was Lauren's turn to blush. Bo couldn't see her face, but her hair was swept to the side enough for her to notice the pink color creeping up her neck.

"I didn't realize I would need to be working today," Lauren explained. "There wasn't much of an option."

Bo scoffed. "Huh. Of _course_ there wasn't."

The biting sarcasm in her tone was stronger than she intended, and Lauren remained silent while Bo recovered from the unexpected turn of events. Bo knew she shouldn't have been surprised, really. If Lauren was going to be a succubus for more than a couple of days, she would inevitably need to feed. The intensity of her own reaction was a mystery to her. It took a while for Bo to wind herself down again, and after that she decided to take a more friendly approach.

"So… how did it go?" Bo asked after several moments. She wanted to kick herself the moment the words left her mouth. Anything Lauren said in response would certainly upset her, she realized a few seconds too late.

And unfortunately, Lauren answered the question.

"It definitely wasn't my smoothest operation… but I figured it out eventually," she offered cautiously.

Lauren was clearly uncomfortable, and she probably only volunteered the information because of the two of them, Bo was the true succubus. The blonde might have been hoping for some advice, but as Bo initially feared, the information triggered an involuntary reaction that she was incapable of stopping. Her words came rushing forth before she had a chance to process them, and they were far from pleasant.

"Right… I think you and I both remember your _smoothest_ operation, don't we, Lauren?" Bo said bitterly.

Lauren flinched as if she'd just been slapped, and she spun around to face Bo. Initially, she looked hurt, but that expression quickly gave way to anger; Bo thought she even noticed a few tiny specks of blue around the edges of her light brown eyes. Lauren swiftly gathered her papers and wiggled out from behind the desk, making sure to avoid any contact with the brunette.

"Wait, Lauren!" Bo called after her.

Lauren didn't acknowledge her and continued on a determined path out of the office. There were so many reasons that Bo didn't want Lauren to leave yet: she wasn't prepared to run the labs on her own, she had no idea what she was looking at half the time, and Lauren was familiar with all the staff (and more importantly, Bo's various new bosses). All of that was a peripheral concern now. The guilt felt like a lead weight settled in the pit of her stomach. There were reasons for Bo to be mad at Lauren, but this wasn't one of them. Most importantly, what she'd said was tremendously unfair, and Bo was determined to make it right.

She sprung from her desk chair and bounded to the door, barely beating Lauren there. The blonde had just twisted the handle and pulled it open a fraction of an inch when Bo reached forward to snap it shut with the cast on her hand, breathing hard but unable to tell if it was from the exertion or the reeling shame she was still experiencing.

"Bo, let me go." Lauren's voice was low, but it cut like a knife. She wouldn't even look at Bo, staring instead into the tiny gap between the dark wood door and it's frame as if willing it to open again.

"No," she shook her head. "Look, I'm sorry. That was… uncalled for. I shouldn't have said that. It's just…" Bo paused, not knowing how to justify her biting words. "It's just habit, I guess," she shrugged helplessly.

Something in Bo's confused apology must have resonated because a moment later, Lauren's tense posture relaxed a little. She turned to look at Bo with a resigned expression, almost like a parent would look at a child who'd been sent to the principal's office for the fourth time in a week. Bo instantly felt seven years old again under her scrutiny. A growing sense of anxiety mounted, knowing that soon she would have to either explain herself or apologize. Bo wasn't particularly good at either.

"I figured as much," Lauren said simply.

Her response bucked Bo's expectations, and she was thrown for a loop at the odd response.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Bo asked, trying not to sound petulant but failing miserably.

"You and your friends spend your free time vilifying me like it's a form of entertainment. You can't imagine how that feels, Bo — having to listen to someone make those remarks to your face and knowing that your most private moments have been aired like dirty laundry for everyone else to see. Kenzi insults me to my face as if she expects me to 'join in on the fun,' but of course she thinks it's you that she's bantering with. I begged you to let me explain myself, but you didn't want to hear it. Instead, you spent the last four years ignoring me when I was in your physical presence and slandering me behind my back to anyone who will listen to you. It's just like you said — that kind of persistent behavior qualifies as a _habit_."

The words hit a little too close to home for Bo's comfort. She'd only intended to apologize for her comment minutes ago, not account for years' worth of slights that were never supposed to be public knowledge. Lauren had been hurt by Bo's actions for a long time, and when she framed unfairness of her situation so clearly, Bo was overcome with shame. Her reaction instantly turned defensive.

"Kenzi and Dyson are my friends," Bo argued. "So yeah, I told them what happened, but I didn't ask for them to start an anti-Lauren campaign. I guess they just thought it was a really shitty thing to do to someone too… which it was!"

"If you had just let me explain —"

Bo cut her off. "There's no need for that now. I didn't realize how the Fae worked back then, but Dyson explained everything to me afterward. I should've known that you cared more about what the Ash wanted than you did about me. At least now I know better."

"I wouldn't exactly call Dyson an uninterested and impartial third party, Bo."

"He's my friend, and I trust him."

"Is that all he is?" Lauren asked seriously.

Bo feigned ignorance. "What do you mean?"

"Come on, Bo. I wasn't born yesterday. Not even two days ago, you two were cuddling together at my workstation, and today, he's begging me to sleep with him under some strange set of rules you two share together. Really, Bo — you and Dyson — _what is that?_"

A warm wave of embarrassment rushed over Bo. She looked away from Lauren pointedly, wildly searching for words to adequately explain her situation that wouldn't make things worse. She wasn't even ready to have this conversation with Dyson — much less Lauren. Bo turned away and went back to the desk chair, still refusing to make eye contact.

"I don't need to explain myself to you," Bo said.

"Actually, you do." Lauren stepped away from the door and leaned over the desk, bringing herself face to face with Bo. "The taunts I can deal with. I've heard worse during the years I've worked here with the Light Fae. But Bo, If you're expecting me to keep up the charade in your personal life, I need you to know that under absolutely no circumstances will I be sleeping with Dyson. I don't care what he expects from your relationship. The answer is no."

"I wouldn't ask you to do that."

"So _not_ sleeping together is normal in whatever relationship you two have together? I don't need to explain anything to him?"

Bo stared at the desk, and mumbled nearly inaudibly: "We're friends. We're not together."

"Then why do I get the feeling that Dyson assumes you're his de facto girlfriend?"

"It's complicated," Bo shrugged.

Lauren was silent for so long that Bo thought she might have somehow escaped the office without her noticing. When she finally glanced up again, however, Lauren was seated at one of the chairs across from Bo's desk, one leg looped casually over the other in a relaxed position and her arms crossed. Judging from the expectant look on her face, she was waiting for further elaboration. Bo realized with a sickening feeling that she would eventually have to explain herself. As long as Lauren wasn't causing a scene, there was no way Trick was going to have her removed from the premises. Lauren was a patient person and would probably wait here all day and night until Bo finally gave her what she was after.

"He really is only my friend," Bo let out an exaggerated sigh. "I won't deny that he's wanted more ever since he got his love back, but I already moved on. He and I… we just don't want the same things anymore. I still love him as a friend, and I don't want to lose that." Despite being a short explanation, the admission was exhausting.

"So that's why you two still sleep together? You're afraid that he's going to stop being friends with you if you don't?"

"It's not like that," Bo countered, though she couldn't come up with an alternative explanation. She could have any Fae she wanted, so it wasn't a necessity to keep him around all the time for feeding anymore. Lauren's observations just made Bo seem incredibly insecure, and she wasn't ready to admit that about herself just yet.

"Look Bo, I know I'm not Dyson's biggest fan… but don't you think that's a little unfair to him? He still thinks that if he waits long enough, you'll see him as more than a friend. If you care about him as much as you say, you would tell him the truth."

Bo bit her lip, and bowed her head to hide the shame in her face from Lauren. She was right, of course. There was no universe where she saw herself by Dyson's side as anything other than a friend and comrade at arms. She returned his affections when it suited her — to poke at Lauren's sore spots, for instance. Bo was allowing one of her best friends to wait for a pipe dream. Bo loved Dyson, but she wasn't in love with him anymore. And what was worse, now Lauren knew her secret. The admission and the way she'd acted with him made Bo feel like a child compared to a mature, adult Lauren. Bo couldn't bring herself to look her in the eye.

"But how am I supposed to do that?" Bo asked. "You're me, and I'm —" she glanced at the sleeves of her white lab coat that were covering her arms, "— I'm _you_."

"If that's what you want to do, Bo, we can figure something out," Lauren said earnestly. The conviction in her words caused the brunette to look up and meet her eyes again.

The wolf must have felt his ears burning. An unexpected knock at the door caused both women to jump in their seats. Rita poked her head inside a moment later, looking surprisingly apologetic.

"Sorry to interrupt," the Boston Harpy said, noticeably more polite now that Lauren was present. "Dyson Thornwood is in the lobby, and he's looking for you." She looked directly at Lauren. "He seems a little bit… umm… let's say concerned…"

A loud crash sounded from outside the office, followed by shouts from several Fae. Both Bo and Lauren recognized one of the voices as belonging to Dyson. Bo groaned while Lauren frowned. The wolf was probably causing a scene not knowing where Lauren was at this exact moment.

"Of course, Rita," Lauren said calmly. "Tell him to sit down and stop yelling, and I will be there in a minute."

Rita appeared grateful for the instructions. They all hoped that the promise of Lauren's return would keep him from smashing any more breakables in the lab. The lab assistant scampered off quickly to spread the news of Lauren's imminent arrival, and a few seconds later, the labs grew quiet once again, much to everyone's relief. As usual, Lauren controlled an untenable situation like a professional, and Bo sat in awe of her calm assuredness.

Lauren stood up and said: "I know you're busy, but I'd like to stop by the lab tomorrow to take care of some of this." She gestured to the paperwork covering most of Bo's desk. "Like I said, they're my projects, and it wouldn't be right if I abandoned them."

Bo raised her eyebrows at her. "Don't you have PI stuff to do also?"

"About that," Lauren paused and bit her lip as if afraid to continue. "If I'm going to have to go out in the field, I need to have these succubus abilities figured out. Academically, I know just about everything there is to know about succubi, but first I would like to pick your brains about the more… practical aspects."

"You want tips to help you with control," Bo summarized.

Lauren nodded hesitantly. "Is that okay?"

"If you're going to help me get rid of all of this," she motioned to her overflowing desk, "then I'd say it's the least I can do. You know, it's funny though…" Bo grinned.

"What is?"

"You were the one that helped me with my control, and now you're asking me to help with yours," Bo chuckled. "We've now come full circle."

"It would seem so. Here's to new beginnings." Lauren smiled kindly at her and headed toward the door. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Kenzi had always harped on Lauren's cold demeanor, but Bo saw its usefulness now. If she had to deal with all of this on a daily basis, it might have made her experience more bearable. A day that seemed like it would never end now seemed a little less dismal with the promise of Lauren's help. She still had a giant collection of unfinished work, and she was still as powerless as she was when she woke up this morning. Yet for the first time since the unfortunate switch, Bo was hopeful. It felt nice to have an ally on her side during this impossible situation. There was still a lot they needed to talk about if they were ever going to be close again, but the idea of sharing a space with Lauren didn't automatically seem like a chore anymore. Their problems weren't solved — and Bo wasn't sure they'd ever have the same connection as they did before things fell apart — but she was convinced this arrangement was an important step forward for both of them.

Hey, Lauren," Bo called after her before she left.

Lauren turned around. "Hmm?"

"Thank you."

Lauren blinked several times in quick succession, as if she couldn't believe the words that just left Bo's mouth. The blonde didn't even realize that her jaw was hanging slightly open. She recomposed herself quickly though, snapping her mouth shut and shaking the cobwebs from her brain. A goofy grin spread across her face.

"You're welcome, Bo."

* * *

Levi looked like a bear crawling from its cave after a long hibernation. In her case, it was more like a several thousand years. She'd never had a reason to leave her spacious living quarters underground before, at least not until the Norn invited her to her home on the other side of the grass. The bright sunlight was a novel experience after eons of darkness, and Levi kept her eyes squinted against the bright light as they adjusted.

"Been a while since you visited the real world?" the Norn teased her. She opened a second set of blinds in the living room, letting another wave of sunlight inside.

Levi winced and shielded her face with her arm. "Stop it, Wynne. What is it that you want?"

The Norn wouldn't have invited her for a social call, as the two literally ran in different parts of the earth (and preferred it that way). There had to be some reason for the meeting, Levi was certain. She just had to endure the Norn's taunts until the purpose was clear.

"I believe nowadays, there's a name for people like you. The current vernacular is 'woobie,' from what I understand," the Norn said with a hearty chuckle. She'd anticipated the Levi's reaction and reached into her desk drawer to retrieve the over-sized sunglasses she'd set aside for the occasion. "Here."

Levi took them cautiously and placed them over her face, their size making her look like a giant fly. "What a glorious invention," she mused in wonderment.

"Indeed."

"I know that's not why I'm here though." Levi leaned on her walking stick with both hands now that they were free. "What's on your mind?"

"It's about that damned Bo Dennis," the Norn replied bitterly.

Levi perked up in alarm. "Has she been cheating her way out of this too?!"

"Not yet. But something has come to my attention — something you might find interesting concerning her and the good doctor."

"Oh? Pray tell."

"I've been keeping a close eye on those two recently," the Norn explained. "Neither of them will admit it, but it appears that there may be some lingering _feelings_ between the two of them."

"You know, I get lingering feelings from shingles every now and then too," Levi said, rolling her eyes. "You're going to have to be more specific."

The Norn grinned evilly. "Romantic feelings, Levi."

Realization dawned on the Leviathan's face. It apparently was just as big a surprise to her as it was to the Norn. "Is that so? How can you be sure?"

"I've been watching them closely —"

"Pervert," Levi interjected.

"— and there's definitely something there. They both are fighting it. I never saw it before because they never spoke to each other."

"And just what do expect to do with this information?" Levi asked her.

"Are you not the queen of riddles, Levi? Use your brain!" the Norn scoffed. "If Bo Dennis has feelings for Dr. Lewis, then we can use that against her by —"

"By going after Dr. Lewis?" Levi shook her head in disagreement. "But she's not the target."

"You misunderstand me. We don't harm Lauren Lewis, but we use her newfound station to drive Bo mad. She's impulsive enough to cause trouble if she doesn't get her way. Lauren Lewis is the desirable one now, so if we make Bo jealous…" the Norn trailed off, inviting Levi to finish her thoughts.

"There's a good chance her head will explode!" Levi beamed. The joy in her voice at those words was positively unnatural.

"And that's why I asked you to crawl out from underneath the rock you've been living under. We've already caused a shakeup by switching the two of them. If we arrange this too, we'll arouse too much suspicion. You need to talk to your pain in the ass niece and get her to cooperate with us for once."

Levi's initial elation came spiraling down in a fraction of a second. Her niece had the mischievous streak necessary to undertake the mission, but she also was the most irreverent woman the Norn had met in at least half a millennium. That wouldn't have been an insurmountable problem by itself, but she held a powerful position and was notoriously difficult to reason with. It would be particularly unpleasant meeting for Levi; the two of them were estranged for a reason, though the Norn didn't know any specifics.

"I… I can't…" Levi backed away a couple of steps, shaking her head.

"Why not? Did your ovaries shrivel up and die when the Assyrian Empire fell?"

"No…"

"Then locate your lady bits and stop being such a coward, Levi! Or did you forget about the terms of our little wager?"

Truthfully, the Norn had already conceded her own defeat in this arrangement. She'd acquired a six pack of Cherry Dr Pepper yesterday from a Preta hoping to overcome his addiction to gambling. He thought she was mad to offer the exchange, of course, but he agreed heartily. It was the most inequitable deal the Norn ever struck, not that she much cared anyway. She was only pleased that it saved her the hassle of having to go to that godforsaken wasteland of a country just south of the border to retrieve Levi's winnings herself. Even if it wasn't part of the deal, she would gladly hand over the entire six pack if it meant Bo Dennis was thoroughly humiliated in the process.

"Is it entirely necessary to call her?" Levi asked, clinging to any possibility that didn't including asking her niece for a favor. "Bo Dennis will still get her comeuppance even if we don't interfere with the doctor."

"If the two somehow find a way to reconcile, her downfall may not be as profound as either one of us hoped for," the Norn pointed out. From what she'd seen, the chances of that happening were slim, but she couldn't take any chances. She and Levi needed to strain that working relationship so Bo would stumble harder. "This is our one chance to teach Bo Dennis a lesson. We should take full advantage of it, Levi. Take away everything she's taken for granted, and bring her down by any means necessary."

The Norn could practically hear the grinding cogwheels turning in Levi's head. The older woman appeared to be physically straining herself from the intense thought she was putting into the proposal. Her eyes were well hidden behind the dark sunglasses, but the wrinkles on her forehead were extra pronounced while she considered the Norn's words.

It seemed like ages later, but Levi finally surrendered. "Fine, I'll call her," she said. "Where's your phone?"

"Over there." The Norn pointed to the antique rotary dial phone hanging from the wall.

"You know Wynne, I'm impressed to see you embracing modern technology. I half expected you to have a tin can and some string."

The Norn made a vulgar gesture with her hand, making Levi chuckle. The ancient Fae picked up the handset and slowly rotated the familiar numbers into place, making a clicking noise each time her finger reached the metal stop. Levi held her breath as the other line rang. As expected, a designated secretary picked up the phone a moment later.

Levi answered: "Yes, make me an appointment with Evony, please. Tell her that her aunt would like to speak with her."


	4. Lonely

The taps from Levi's walking stick striking the marble tile echoed loudly around the waiting room. The secretary shot her a dirty look with the phone pressed against her ear, so the Norn grabbed at the piece of wood firmly, stilling it's repetitive bouncing movements. The tapping stopped instantly, and Levi gave her a guilty look. The woman was a bundle of nerves leading up to the imminent meeting with her niece.

"If you act like a helpless puppy, you'll be treated like one," the Norn said. "Are you not the most ancient and powerful Fae in all the underworld?"

Levi nodded nervously. "I am."

"Well then start bloody well acting like it." She released the other woman's walking stick, which to her delight stayed in place this time around.

Levi startled when the frosted glass double doors opened in front of them barely a minute later, bolting upright and standing quickly at attention. The Norn rolled her eyes and followed suit, albeit at an unhurried pace. One of her glassy-eyed understudies emerged a moment later — no doubt one of her playthings she kept around for feeding. He had that distinct look of a Leanan sídhe's victim: The lights were on, but nobody was home.

"The Morrigan will see you now," he said. His baritone voice was lifeless and unfeeling, and his face betrayed no emotion as he led the two ancients into Evony's office.

As they approached, Levi made several attempts to sneak in behind the Norn, but each time the Norn thwarted her efforts. They stood side by side waiting for the Morrigan to acknowledge them. She had her back turned to her visitors with her stilettos propped lazily on one of the statues by the huge windows, admiring the view of the city below. She knew they were there, of course, but making her guests wait on her was a power move. The Norn was well aware of it and cleared her throat loudly to show her annoyance.

"You know, when I took an appointment to see my aunt, I wasn't expecting two visitors." She kept her back turned to them and admired her freshly manicured nails in the bright sunlight. "As you know, I don't take social calls here. What's your business?" She turned around and fixed them both with a hard glare. Levi cowered under the look, so the Norn spoke up for her.

"We have a proposition for you," she said.

Evony glanced quickly back and forth between the two women. Their attire was different — and she couldn't help but realize how her aunt looked like an insect with those ridiculous sunglasses — but their postures were mirror images of one another. Both were leaning heavily on their walking sticks, standing with their shoulders nearly touching.

"I see," Evony nodded. "So when is the wedding?"

The Norn's eyes widened in horror. "That's not… We're not…" She glanced to Levi for help, but she was equally dumbfounded by the accusation.

"Relax, I was just joking. No need to get defensive about it… Unless there really _is_ something going on between you…" Evony eyed them both, and Levi and the Norn shook their heads vehemently. "Since I haven't seen either of you since the before the Reformation, I assume you have something important you want to say, so out with it."

There was a long, uncomfortable silence. The Norn waited for Levi to explain and nodded at her encouragingly.

Levi took a deep breath and said: "We need your assistance making Bo Dennis as miserable as humanly possible."

"The doctor?" Evony raised one of her perfectly groomed eyebrows at her. "Isn't being a slave to the blood dufus a miserable enough existence?"

"It's not quite what you think…"

Levi explained the switch to the Morrigan, how Bo Dennis was not truly the human doctor she appeared to be in this world and how Lauren Lewis was not the famous unaligned succubus. Evony found the entire situation hilarious, and by the end of Levi's story, she was laughing so hard that tears were spilling from her eyes. She wiped at them quickly to avoid ruining her mascara.

"You two are batshit crazy," Evony gasped through peals of laughter. "Diabolical, even."

"Thank you," the Norn said, finally speaking up.

Evony ignored her. "But what makes you think I need to — or even want to — get involved with whatever plan you've got going on? Other than a good laugh, what's in it for me?"

"You could stop being her lapdog, for starters."

All hints of humor vanished from Evony's expression. "Excuse me?"

"You were more than happy to send her whoever she fancied, whenever she asked. You were wrapped around Bo Dennis's little finger as much as anyone else."

Evony stood up with a thunderous look on her face. Her high heels put her at a notable height advantage, so she raised her head up slightly to glare at her two visitors down the length of her nose.

"I've only done what the elder council required of me!" the Morrigan hissed. "I've worked too hard to get to this position only to be overthrown for not playing nice in this game of junior high politics. They favor the unaligned succubus — I don't have a choice!"

"Afraid to stand up to your council of elders," The Norn chuckled. "Some leader you are. You sound more like a coward to me."

Evony grinned maliciously, and her voice was cloyingly sweet as she said: "I think we all know who the biggest coward in the room is, don't we, Aunt L?" She turned her gaze to Levi, who began to tremble under her scrutiny.

The Norn watched the icy exchange with equal parts fascination and annoyance. Levi would no longer be sticking up for herself, she was certain, so she pressed on, hoping to make Evony concede their point.

"You can still make up for lost time," the Norn pointed out. "Nobody knows about the switch, not even the elders. If you wanted to go after Bo now, you could. None of them would stop you."

Evony rolled her eyes. "You seem to be forgetting about the Ash. If you've switched them, Bo is under his protection now. It would be even harder to get to her than it was when the Dark Fae council was breathing down my neck."

"I think we have a solution for that," the Norn smirked, "that is, if you're interested."

* * *

Bo just barely survived the long day at the compound. Most of her patients probably suspected something was wrong with her. Nobody said as much, but every single time Bo excused herself during the middle of an appointment to "check on something" — which really meant she ran to ask Lauren what to do — they all gave her a confused and slightly annoyed look. There was no doubt it was an inferior experience than they were used to. Her clinic ran three hours too late due to her inexperience, but she saw everyone, having to skip both breakfast and lunch to do so.

As Lauren requested, Bo used her badge to let her work in the private lab in the back of medical facility. Nobody would disrupt her there, and after the switch, any work Lauren did had to be without the Light Fae's knowledge. When Bo arrived for the twentieth time today, Lauren had barely moved; she was still hunched over the steel lab table examining the partially liquefied Light Fae corpse that was brought in a couple of days ago.

"I thought you were going to work on your other projects," Bo said, though it sounded more like a question. She vividly remembered the huge pile of papers that she helped Lauren carry in early this morning before anyone else arrived.

Lauren didn't even bother looking up from her work. "I finished it a couple of hours ago," she mumbled. A moment later, she frowned deeply, causing the tiny wrinkles on her forehead to become evident.

Sure enough, the messy stack of papers Bo noticed earlier today was rearranged into a neat series of piles. The brunette leafed through a few of the pages to read Lauren's detailed analysis. She still didn't understand a word of it, but the amount of work she'd done in just a few hours amazed her. Bo knew Lauren was intelligent, but even she didn't expect it all to be done so quickly. Her proficiency was impressive to the point of being unnatural.

"Didn't you take a break at all today?" Bo asked her incredulously.

Lauren didn't respond immediately. Her mind was otherwise occupied, and she wouldn't break her concentration until she found whatever answer she was looking for. It was as if she didn't even hear Bo's question.

"I can't see any signs of administration anywhere on the body," Lauren sighed. "It obviously follows a parenteral route, but there are no recent puncture marks on the skin indicating that it was injected _anywhere_." Her frustration was evident, and she finally looked up with another frown. "What on earth happened to you?"

Bo glanced down to her white coat, which was marred by dark, angry scorch marks in several places. "It was Will," she explained, recalling the Will-o'-the-Wisp she'd seen this morning. She'd run by to ask for Lauren's advice on medications, but Bo neglected to mention the fire he'd ignited at her feet. "He had breakfast burritos before his appointment."

"Ah, say no more."

"Yeah… the fire extinguisher was a lifesaver."

Lauren ducked her head down, hiding her face. "I'm just glad you didn't get burned too badly."

Bo was about to thank her for her concerned thoughts, but before she did Lauren's shoulders started shaking in a motion that was distinctly laughter. The brunette threw her hands on her hips and did her best to look reprimanding.

"Are you _laughing_ at me?" Bo asked incredulously.

"No," Lauren lied.

"Uh huh… Well laugh it up, funny girl. I survived today, and nobody died. That's good enough for me. Now if you could wrap up here, that'd be great. Everyone's already left, and I'm so hungry I could eat an entire horse."

Lauren stood up and looked around to the empty walls. There were no windows and no clocks in sight. "What time is it?" she asked.

"Just after eight." That must have been the wrong answer because Lauren's light brown eyes shot wide open.

"Shit!"

In an impressive show of speed, Lauren whisked around the small room, putting every bit of equipment in its rightful place. To Bo, it looked like a tornado, but instead of everything being torn apart as Lauren flew by, the lab was left more orderly. The blonde kept up her tirade of _shits_ and _dammits_ as she went, leaving Bo standing by confused and helpless.

As Lauren slammed the last drawer shut, leaving the room impeccably spotless once again, Bo spoke up: "Uh, Lauren?"

"Yes?" she answered, finally halting her cleaning frenzy.

"Is something wrong?"

"I just…" Lauren looked away guiltily, and the volume of her voice dropped. "Kenzi asked me to meet her at the Dal an hour ago for dinner."

Bo's face fell. "Oh."

The news shouldn't have surprised her, but the reminder hurt Bo more than she anticipated — and in different ways than she was used to. Everything in Bo's life now was done in solitude, from eating and sleeping to relaxing in the brief moments she escaped from Light Fae work. Lauren would get the company of her best friend, and Bo would get nothing. The past few days had been among the loneliest in Bo's life (at least since her days as a runaway). In an ironic twist, Bo actually found herself looking forward to the brief moments when she saw Lauren for the first time in a long while. She was the only one that didn't look at Bo like she was gum stuck on the bottom of her shoe. Lauren was perceptive as ever and noticed the change in Bo's tone.

"How are you holding up?" Lauren's voice was full of understanding, and that almost made it worse.

"I'm doing fine," Bo fibbed.

"You don't have to lie to me, Bo. It's my life, remember?" Bo didn't answer right away, but Lauren patiently waited, despite being rushed to make an appearance with Kenzi.

"I don't know how you do all this, Lauren," Bo finally said with a hint of resignation.

It was a simple statement, but Bo meant more than just the number of hours Lauren regularly worked at the lab. The suffocating isolation was the worst of Bo's situation, and she didn't think she could last long before she cracked under the pressure of it. Bo thrived on interpersonal connections; she wasn't designed to endure this kind of life. Nobody was.

Anytime something significant happened in her life, Bo loved to have someone to share the moment with. Before the switch, she would have turned to Kenzi, but now, that outlet was lost to her. She'd tried to make polite conversation with Rita earlier today, but if looks could kill, the Boston Harpy would have rendered Bo dead on the spot using nothing but her eyes.

"You get used to it," Lauren shrugged. "Some days it's worse than others." She opened her mouth to continue but hesitated, closing it again quickly.

"I always assumed that all of you were friends here in the lab."

Lauren's posture stiffened and her lips turned into a thin line, so Bo knew she understood her meaning. _I didn't realize you were so alone. _Her face, which had previously been so warm, transformed into a stoic mask.

Lauren said: "We're as good of friends as can be expected, all things considered. They're Fae, and I'm human… _was_ human."

Bo stared at her for a long while; what could she say to that, really? Things had always been different between her and Kenzi. Bo had always considered her an equal and never payed much attention to what went on outside her circle.

"Oh," Bo said lamely, though the acknowledgment seemed woefully inadequate. "I didn't… I'm…"

She was fumbling with her words, and didn't know what to say. Bo almost uttered an apology but realized that she wasn't entirely sure what she'd be apologizing for in that instance. The Fae being bigoted jerks was just something that was understood and assumed, kind of like gravity. It seemed like ages since she really railed against their behavior. She'd unknowingly let herself grow accustomed to it after a while.

"It's the way the world works with the Fae, Bo. That particular bit isn't really your fault."

"Still… It sucks," Bo sighed. "I didn't even think about it before."

Lauren nodded curtly, and she collected the belongings she'd brought inside with her this morning, this time moving at a less hurried pace. Bo still couldn't get used to the fact that Lauren was wearing _her_ clothes and carrying _her _bag over her shoulder. Then Lauren grabbed the keys to Bo's old car, and she felt even more lost than before. After a day like today, Bo would have killed to enjoy a drink and a burger with her bestie, but she wouldn't get that lucky. Her disappointment must have been broadcasted all over her face because Lauren paused once she was ready to leave.

"You know, you can come with me if you want," Lauren offered. "I know you miss Kenzi. It might be good for you to see her."

"Really?!" Bo tried not to sound too excited, but she failed spectacularly.

"Really. I've had more time to get used to being alone, but I know that for you, this is all relatively new. It won't be what you're used to, of course, but some good old fashioned human interaction would probably make you feel better."

Succubus abilities aside, Bo had always been a social creature. In addition to chi and food, she relied on interactions with her friends and family for sustenance. All of it was necessary to keep Bo strong, sane, and in good spirits. Lauren must have known that, prompting the offer. It was a considerate gesture, and Bo filed away the information, hoping to repay her for the small act of kindness later.

"Thank you," Bo said. "Seriously, you didn't have to do that."

Lauren said: "I wouldn't thank me just yet. We're an hour late. Kenzi may have cleaned out the Dal's kitchen already." Her resulting grin was genuine, and Bo found herself returning it.

Bo followed Lauren out of the empty lab. The place looked strikingly different after everyone went home. The equipment was powered down, and the normally bright lab was dim owing to a lack of sunlight and most of the fluorescent overhead lights being shut off. Bo could barely find her way around, but Lauren navigated it expertly, leading them both to the old yellow Camaro. For the first time in a long time, Bo climbed into the passenger's seat.

There wasn't much conversation during the drive. Lauren was completely unreadable, and Bo wished she could figure out what she was thinking. Whenever she wasn't staring out the window, she stole glances at the woman across from her, hoping to figure out what was on her mind. She had a faraway look in her eye, like her big brain was silently working out some difficult problem.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Bo said. Lauren blinked as she emerged from her intense concentration, but the car didn't budge an inch from its course on the road.

"I was just thinking…"

"About?"

"This," she said, as if it were obvious. When Bo gave her a perplexed look, she clarified: "How we ended up trading places."

"Got any ideas?" Bo asked hopefully.

"None that would also explain the resultant memory changes in everyone around us. Gorgon blood can induce a body swap, but if that had been the case, I would physically be in your body and you in mine. What's happened to us is like we're transplanted — kind of like how the world might be if we were born in each other's shoes. Everyone has false memories of us which were planted at the time of the switch. I don't know who did this, but it would take a terribly powerful Fae to do what they did."

Bo groaned. "What in the hell did I do to deserve this?"

Lauren tore her eyes from the road to look at Bo for a brief second, her expression alight with realization. "That might not be a bad place to start," she mused.

Lauren obviously made some sort of jump in logic, but Bo was still confused as to how she'd gotten there and what she was implying. She was clearly intrigued, however, and if Lauren thought she was on to something, Bo wanted to know what. Of the two of them, Lauren was the brains of the operation and the only one that feasibly stood a chance at solving this predicament.

"Did I miss something?" Bo asked. "_Where's_ a good place to start _what_?"

"This was a massive undertaking, even by Fae standards, and you have to think of this from a Fae's perspective. Making you human is sending a message, and having you isolated from all of your friends is an even clearer one," Lauren explained. "Someone thinks you deserve to be taught a lesson, Bo. Whoever it is, they're doing this to get back at you."

"Who would do this to get back at me?" Bo genuinely looked hurt at the information, which was equal parts endearing and frustrating.

"Well, who have you pissed off recently?"

"Nobody!"

"Are you sure about that?" Lauren narrowed her eyes at her.

Bo hesitated at the severe look. Other than the Garuda and the Wanderer, the only true enemies she'd ever had were Vex and Evony. Since she'd been so heavily favored with the Dark Fae elders, both of them had since stopped squabbling with her years ago, but she understood that it was not by choice. Evony in particular would have had access to any number of powerful Fae that could have done her bidding for her.

"I need you to make a list," Lauren said, "with all the names of everyone that might have even the slightest grudge against you. Whoever is responsible for this is probably familiar with me as well, which could include any number of Light Fae here, or even a few Dark Fae. Once you give me a list, I can see who I recognize, and cross-reference their species to see if they could have possibly orchestrated this."

Bo grudgingly agreed, and the more time she spent brainstorming, the more names she came up with. Some were former clients, others were former feeds… As the list in her head grew longer, Bo was surprised by her list of potential enemies. Since she'd ascended the Fae's social ladder, she never had to interact with many of them much. She would like to say that none would have been capable of doing such a heinous act, but she couldn't know with any degree of certainty. She only hoped Lauren could recognize some of the names.

Lauren pulled the car smoothly into Bo's reserved parking space outside the Dal and cut off the engine. Judging by the number of cars, the place was even busier than usual, and they both had to squeeze through the noisy crowd just to get to the tables. Initially, there didn't seem to be any open. That was before Kenzi came along from out of nowhere.

"Lo, where the hell were you all day?" Kenzi scolded, though there was no real anger behind her tone. She sounded more annoyed that she had to postpone her long-awaited dinner. "I called you like five times and left you twenty text messages."

The girl grabbed a hold of Lauren's arm and led her through the crowded bar to a table in an alcove in the back. She paid no attention to Bo and apparently hadn't even seen her arrive behind them. Bo wordlessly followed behind them to the table, where Hale was waiting as well. His appearance wasn't that surprising; he was finished with his shift, Bo knew, and he and Kenzi had been nearly inseparable over the past couple of weeks. The siren greeted Lauren as she slid into the booth across from him, and he draped his right arm over the back of the seat to usher in Kenzi by his side. His eyes grew large when he saw Bo standing awkwardly at the end of the table, staring at her own feet because she felt so out of place.

Of course, Hale would be a gentleman about it. He didn't have a malicious bone in his body.

"Hi, Bo," he said, breaking the ice. "Long time, no see. Didn't expect to see you out tonight."

Kenzi's head shot up in alarm at the mention of the unexpected guest, and she glared at Bo angrily.

"I invited her." Lauren said before anyone had a chance to make an angry retort. "She was working on the case all day, and she hasn't eaten anything yet."

Bo cast an uneasy glance at Lauren. She hadn't eaten, which was accurate, but she'd gotten no work done on the murder case. That was all Lauren's doing, and the blonde was giving her undue credit for it.

Kenzi grumbled: "Well isn't that _thoughtful_." She rolled her eyes as Bo scooted in next to Lauren and pressed herself closer up against Hale in response.

For the most part, nobody paid Bo any attention. Kenzi, Hale, and Lauren formed a literal triangle of conversation at the booth, and all of their topics managed to exclude Bo completely. Bo listened for most of it, but the longer it went on, the more painful it was. While Bo knew this wouldn't have been one of her normal outings with Kenzi, her goal of having a little interaction with her best friend backfired. The talks taking place around her made her feel more alone than she did earlier — perhaps it was just her awareness of it was heightened. If she'd been busy talking, she probably wouldn't have noticed the strange looks she was getting from elsewhere in the bar. The other patrons were appalled, surprised, annoyed — a few of them might have been closer to outrage — but Bo couldn't tell if she was simply imagining the negative response or not. After all, she felt more conspicuous and out of place here than she had in at least fifteen years.

When the food arrived, Bo inhaled it greedily, mostly to distract herself from the conversation taking place around her.

"Hey, Dr. Mengele… Hungry much?" Kenzi said, bringing Bo out of her silent reverie.

Bo had finished her entire burger (and the side of fries) before anyone else was even halfway finished. Since she'd been largely ignored for the past half hour, she dug right in and was now sitting patiently with her hands in her lap. She glanced at Lauren, whose jaw was clenched firmly after Kenzi's statement. Bo didn't know why she was upset, but figured it must have been serious for her to react as visibly like she did. Lauren was normally nonreactive to people pushing her buttons.

"Yeah, I was pretty hungry," Bo conceded. She turned to address Hale: "The kitchen has gotten so much better recently."

"Thanks, doc," Hale grinned. "I just had a new grills and ovens installed a couple of weeks ago. You should really give our breakfast a shot. Order the pancakes — top notch stuff, that's all I'm sayin'."

"Why bother? Doesn't the Ash feed his own pets anymore?" Kenzi said, giving Bo a dirty look.

Bo flinched at the hateful comment thrown her way, and Hale glanced away with an embarrassed expression. Kenzi didn't relent at all, causing Bo to cower in her seat as she endured her best friend's rage.

"Don't the well behaved humans eat the best though? That's a thing, right doc? Maybe I should ask Trick what kind of treats his pets get when they obey —"

"Kenzi, that's enough!" Lauren interrupted her loudly. The girl shut up instantly, though she didn't seem at all apologetic for what she'd said. Hale looked like he wanted to crawl in a hole underneath the table and disappear. "I was the one that invited Bo here, so if you have a problem with that, you need to take it up with me. She's done nothing to upset you —"

"But she made you —"

"That's not your business," Lauren said firmly, knowing very well what topic Kenzi was about to rehash. "My point is that it never involved you. I appreciate the fact that you care for me, but you need to leave this alone."

Kenzi's anger deflated in an instant, and she unwillingly conceded Lauren's point. "Fine. Just let me know if I need to _take care_ of anything." She cast another suspicious look at Bo but eventually dropped the issue. For now, at least.

"That's fine, Kenzi. Thank you."

Kenzi grumbled something unintelligible, causing the entire table to descend into an awkward silence yet again. Lauren stared at Kenzi, who glared at Bo, who looked like she would rather be raked over a bed of red hot charcoals than endure another second of this dinner. Hale was visibly uncomfortable with everything that had transpired over the last couple of minutes.

"So, uhh… How's the case going, you two?" Hale asked Bo and Lauren uneasily. "You both have been hard at work from what I understand. Anything new on the body?"

Bo and Lauren shared a cautious glance with one another. Lauren was the one that had been doing the lab work, unbeknownst to both Kenzi and Hale. They'd both been so busy with their respective tasks that she hadn't even briefed Bo on her findings yet.

"Bo was telling me that she didn't find any sign of entry for the toxin," Lauren explained, saving Bo from having to make up some far-fetched lie to cover herself. "There are no lacerations or abrasions, no ligature marks, no puncture wounds, and no bruising. The toxin wasn't ingested, but it's impossible to see how it was administered."

"Huh," Hale frowned. "That's gotta be pretty weird, right doc?"

Bo nodded fervently. She had no idea if her assessment on the issue was scientifically accurate or not, but if Lauren thought it was strange, she was inclined to agree wholeheartedly. The woman's level of expertise spoke for itself.

Kenzi's ringtone started blaring moments later, drawing the groups attention. Bo recognized the hip hop tune well, and remembered wistfully when her best friend changed her own ringtone to another song by the same artist. She answered quickly, and after a few short "yeps", "uh-huhs", and "got its", she hung up with a focused, business-like demeanor.

"That was Dyson," she announced. "It looks like there's been another murder."

* * *

Dinner hadn't been the affair that either Bo or Lauren expected. Had either of them known the outcome, Lauren wouldn't have suggested Bo tag along, and Bo wouldn't have agreed to come with her. The icy exchange with her best friend had bothered Bo greatly; Lauren could tell from the way her shoulders slumped afterward and the sad look she'd been sporting ever since the group dispersed.

They'd been silent since then, neither of them knowing what to say to the other. Because of it, Lauren didn't realize that Bo wasn't following her to the car until she'd reached the Camaro's door. The brunette was loitering in a dark patch along the brick wall at the far side of the Dal's entrance. Lauren approached her slowly. Bo probably wasn't in the mood to say much, but she didn't want the woman to have to walk home — or even worse, ask a stranger for a ride. For a human, that was inadvisable at a Fae bar like the Dal, despite it being neutral territory.

"Hey," Lauren said gently as she got closer.

Bo's head lifted subtly, but her voice was barely audible. "Hey."

"That was pretty rough. How are you doing?" Lauren stepped a little closer, and once she left the ray of light from the lamp overhead, she could see Bo more clearly.

Bo merely shrugged in response.

"I didn't mean for that to happen, Bo. If I'd known Kenzi would react like that, I wouldn't have even proposed the idea. I'm sorry."

There were any number of reactions Lauren was expecting after her statement, but she definitely didn't expect Bo to start laughing. It was a forced, unnatural sound unlike anything Lauren ever heard from her.

"I don't know why you're apologizing to me," Bo said. "Hell, it's _my_ fault she even said those things in the first place."

Lauren didn't argue that point, as it was technically true. Even though Bo inadvertently brought it on herself, the more compassionate part of Lauren didn't want to see the woman suffer needlessly, even after all that had transpired between them.

"Fair enough," Lauren conceded. "It hurts doesn't it?"

"What, Kenzi?" Bo gave her a confused look.

"That… among other things."

Bo looked absolutely miserable leaning up against the brick wall outside. Her usual confident stance was replaced with a defeated slouch. She was a mere shadow of the confident woman she'd been a few days ago.

"Yes, it hurts. It hurts a lot," Bo finally confessed. "The weird part is, I don't even know why you're talking to me, Lauren. It's not like I went out of my way to have a conversation with you before now. I'm honestly surprised you haven't told me to go screw myself yet."

Lauren looked pensive for a moment. "That's true. But would telling you to go screw yourself solve anything?"

"Probably not."

"Right," Lauren nodded. "It would spiteful and hurtful, and while it probably would make me feel better for a brief moment, it wouldn't help in the long run. I would just end up bitter. Who knows? Maybe years later, I would _still_ be desperately hanging on to those baseless assumptions and imagined slights that made me say those things in the first place. That would be a truly awful existence."

Lauren's voice was calm and matter-of-fact, which made her statement resonate more than if she'd shouted it. Bo looked away guiltily.

"Okay, I get it. I'm a terrible person," Bo mumbled, still not able to muster up the courage to look Lauren in the eye.

"That's the thing, Bo. You're _not_ a terrible person. I still know that, even now." She took another step closer and paused until Bo finally looked into her eyes. "I'm not saying that the way you acted was right — I know I wasn't completely right either — but if you're willing to put this behind us, I still think we may have a shot at being friends if we worked on it. What do you think?"

Lauren didn't know what answer to expect from Bo. She meant what she'd said about still believing Bo was a good person at heart, though to anyone else that would probably seem insane after their sordid history. Four years was a long time to be at odds with one another, but their contention had only been drawn out because they avoided everything they needed to discuss. Bo avoided Lauren, and on the few occasions they did interact without a proxy, neither of them talked about anything other than the case they happened to both be working on. How were any damages between them supposed to be remedied that way?

Bo thought hard on Lauren's question, making Lauren believe several times that her offer would be rejected. When she finally answered, Lauren couldn't believe her ears.

"I'd like that, if you're okay with it," Bo said softly. "God knows I could use a friend right about now." Her voice was still sad, but Lauren thought she heard a little hope that hadn't been present before.

"Oh, I don't know — I think Rita really likes you," Lauren said with a sly grin.

Bo was horrified before she realized Lauren was just joking. Then she grinned as well. "Yeah, yeah, yeah… Everyone eep on laughing at Bo. Personally, I think the fact that she hasn't killed me with her laser beam eyes means I'm doing pretty well."

"Hmm… That's what true friendships are made of." A group of Fae left the Dal at that moment, their laughter and conversation breaking the perfect silence. It also reminded Lauren of where she was supposed to be — and where Kenzi and Dyson were undoubtedly already waiting for her. "You ready to go?" she asked. "I'll give you a ride back if you want."

Bo nodded.

The ride to Lauren's old apartment was quiet, but comfortable. Lauren still longed for the chance to explain herself, to make Bo see the reasons behind her actions years ago that caused their rift, but she knew that Bo still wasn't ready for it yet. Right now she felt alone and vulnerable, and that wasn't how Lauren wanted to broach the subject with her. It wouldn't be fair. With the unexpected shift in Bo's life, Lauren understood what she was feeling better than anyone else could. Bo would need time to acclimate, and then they could finally have that talk — as equals this time, and if they were exceedingly lucky, perhaps as friends too.

* * *

It didn't take long for Lauren to assess the body being held at the human crime lab. Whoever had committed the first murder had clearly been responsible for this one as well. She had no idea why Dyson didn't have the body transferred to the Fae medical labs earlier. Even if the victim was human, there was obviously a Fae player involved. It was a huge security liability; any human could have stumbled across this body, and the nature of the killing would have sparked interest from local media outlets. If discovered, the Fae would have a containment disaster on their hands in a matter of hours.

"This body shouldn't be at a human crime lab, and you know it,Dyson. It should have been sent to the Light Fae labs immediately," Lauren said sternly. "This is a total breach of protocol."

Dyson smirked. "_You're_ really going to give me a lecture on protocol? You've single-handedly broken half our laws in just the last couple of years." His tone was full of amusement, as if he couldn't believe Lauren's suggestion.

"Do you not realize how serious this is?"

Kenzi chimed in. "Uh, Lo… You might want to take a look at this…" She handed over a photograph from the folder she'd been perusing.

It was a picture of the body when it first arrived at the lab. It was from three days ago, and what was even more bizarre — the corpse had been undeniably solid then. From the report, the official cause of death had been ruled internal injuries from a motor vehicle collision. Sometime after that, he'd turned into a human water mattress like the other victim she'd been examining all day.

"How in the world…?" Lauren trailed off.

"I came in to check on him today, and he was like this," Dyson explained. "All human toxicology screens were negative, as you might imagine, and I checked the logs to see if our friend here has had any visitors over the past couple of days."

"Has he?" Lauren asked hopefully.

"Not a soul."

Lauren sighed. This was worse than a mess. Not only was she still clueless as to how this mystery toxin was even administered, there were new victims cropping up among the already dead ones. Any number of human bodies from this very lab could unknowingly be affected.

"Well, what did he do for a living?" Lauren asked.

"Lawyer. Mostly personal injury claims. Witnesses said that he looked pretty ill in the hours leading up to his death. Apparently he stumbled onto the sidewalk and lost consciousness, falling into oncoming traffic."

"An ironic ending for a lifetime ambulance chaser," Kenzi quipped. "Dude was probably hoping to land himself a nice settlement after all this before he got himself turned into jello."

"Is he getting transported to the Light Fae labs?" Lauren asked.

"I have a team coming to pick him up in fifteen minutes. The paperwork's done — they just had to arrange for transport."

"Good. Thanks, Dyson."

"I'll see you tomorrow?" He looked hopeful, but his aura was less bright this time, like a dull haze. Lauren was grateful for that small mercy. She would rather not see him any more than was absolutely necessary, but some interactions with him couldn't be helped given the circumstances.

"We'll see," Lauren said.

That was apparently a good enough answer for the wolf. He re-zipped the corpse back in its vinyl bag and bid both Lauren and Kenzi goodnight without any fuss. It had been a terribly long day for everyone, so nobody was in the mood for socializing any longer than necessary… At least nobody except for Kenzi.

"Lo, can I talk to you for a minute?" Kenzi asked before Lauren had a chance to slip away.

Lauren took a deep breath. After the awkwardness at dinner, she was almost certain what Kenzi wanted to talk about, though she wasn't particularly looking forward to the discussion. "Sure. What's up?" she asked, as if the answer wasn't obvious.

"Why are you suddenly getting all buddy-buddy with the doc?" Her light blue eyes were studying Lauren's reaction closely, but years of tightly controlling her emotions allowed Lauren to keep her expression neutral.

"We're working together on this case. I wouldn't call that being 'buddy-buddy' with her."

Kenzi rolled her eyes. "Oh please, you two haven't spoken more than five words to each other in like… forever. And now you're inviting her to dinner?"

"Is that a problem?" Lauren raised an eyebrow at her.

"No, not at all," Kenzi said sarcastically. "But as your best friend, I'm just wondering if you got lobotomized and forgot that she's the one that totally screwed you over… literally."

"It wasn't like that."

"Then please, by all means, elaborate. Because from what I've heard — which mind you included all the gory details that I'd rather not think about _ever _again — it sounded kind of like a spy-bang to me."

Lauren flushed bright red, a combination of her embarrassment and growing irritation. "It wasn't like she was the only one that messed up that night, Kenzi. We both spent a long time avoiding each other after that — way past the point of it being stupid. I'm putting it behind me now. If I can manage that, I think you should try to do the same."

"So you're _okay_ with what she did?" Kenzi asked incredulously.

Lauren thought of all the times she'd seen Bo since that night — mostly her indifference to Lauren, and how isolated she felt after being excluded from Bo's inner circle. Those memories still hurt even now, but now that the tables had turned, the feeling wasn't so all-consuming. She could forgive Bo's petty (and at time malicious) behavior, but she would never condone her actions after their fallout. Whether forgiving Bo would turn out to be a foolish decision or not remained to be seen, yet Lauren was convinced that she wasn't an irredeemably bad person. As she'd told Kenzi, they'd both made mistakes that night.

"I didn't say I was okay with it," Lauren answered.

Kenzi pouted. "Well… You know I still don't trust her."

"I never asked you to."

"Okay fine. You do you, and I can do me. I get it. If you want to keep sticking your hand on a hot stove and running around the house with scissors, I can't stop you," she said entirely unconvincingly. "But just know that if she hurts you again, I will chop her up into little bitty pieces and put her in one of my babushka's homemade casseroles. Right before I feed it to a horde of ravenous trolls."

Kenzi's loyalty to Bo was a continuous source of amazement to Lauren. The young girl was incredibly misguided at times, taking the words of people like Dyson as gospel truth and letting her own prejudices get the best of her. But even though she and Lauren never saw eye to eye, there was no mistaking how much she cared for Bo. _It must be nice to have a friend like that_, Lauren thought wistfully. It had been too long since she had someone like that in her life, someone that would stand up for her unconditionally like Kenzi did for her best friend.

Lauren nodded, and a tiny grin pulled at the edge of her mouth at the mental image of Kenzi hunting Bo down with a meat cleaver and threatening to chop her to bits. "I'll be sure to let her know. Oh — and Kenzi?"

"Moi?"

"Thanks for being understanding about this."

Kenzi looked like she was going to argue, but she hesitated, apparently giving up the fight for the time being. "Yeah, I know… I'm the best. Just don't make me regret it succu-butt."

* * *

_**Author's note: **I'd like to extend a special thanks to DinahWas, who has agreed to beta this story. (*round of applause*)_


	5. Cease and Desist

Lauren hadn't called all day, so Bo supposed that was a good thing. After hearing about the additional murder case last night, she'd given Lauren a list of her most frequent Light and Dark Fae informants for questioning today, as well as a thorough description of each.

Some Bo used regularly; they weren't too dangerous and were always more than willing to help in any way they could. Others weren't so forthcoming with their answers and required careful handing whenever they were interrogated. As luck would have it, the more dangerous Fae, the ones closest to the clan leaders, always proved to have the most useful information. Bo had never been critically injured by any of them, but she'd had a few close calls during her years of PI work. Bo's descriptions were intended to be as brief—but also as helpful—as possible. If Lauren had to speak to Meyer, she shouldn't allow him to touch her hand, for example. There was one particular Light Fae that would never give Bo any information unless she allowed him to touch her feet (Bo hadn't seen him again after that first encounter). If Lauren hadn't called, that probably meant she hadn't run into any problems. It was getting late though, and as the hours ticked on by, Bo grew increasingly concerned.

Unlike before, Bo at least knew what she was doing today at the lab. Lauren had supplied the necessary brain power, leaving Bo with a manageable list of tasks to complete. Most involved entering data and pulling files from the Fae's research database. With Lauren available to interpret and direct Bo during the day, the woman felt a slightly less lost. Bo's first day at the compound had been her worst nightmare. Under close scrutiny, Bo still couldn't pass as a legitimate doctor, but with Lauren's help, Bo could hide it well enough to fool the people she needed to.

As the hours wore on, Bo began to worry about another issue besides Lauren's lack of contact. As the woman instructed, Bo had compiled a list of possible suspects, the adversaries she'd made over the years that would like nothing more than to even up the score with her. When Bo first started, there were only a few names that sprung to mind. The more she started to recall her interactions over the past couple of years—people she'd incriminated with her casework, those she'd embarrassed, meaningless trysts turned into jealous affairs—the longer her list became. Bo detailed the nature of her interactions with everyone she wrote down, and the result was something akin to Bo's very own hall of shame.

Bo had folded the list multiple times and tucked it away underneath a pile of work paper to hide its contents from anyone that happened to enter her office unannounced. That still didn't seem good enough. It was practically burning a hole in her desk, and every time some assistant entered the office, Bo had the irrational fear that they would find out about it somehow—especially Rita. Bo never completely relaxed until she was left her alone with her work again.

A soft knock at the door caused Bo to tense for the eleventh time today, anticipating another unwanted visit from Rita. The list was well out of sight, but Bo double checked again… just to make sure.

"Come in," Bo called through the closed door to her visitor in her most professional voice.

A moment later the door eased open, and Lauren stepped inside. She was uninjured and didn't even appear the least bit disheveled, though it still was jarring to see her wearing Bo's signature leather. Bo swallowed thickly.

"Hey," Bo smiled at her. Her voice was full of relief, and Lauren even gave her a polite smile in return. Of all the people that could have walked through that door, Bo was actually most glad to see Lauren, the only person that was on her side now. "Did everything go okay? Did you find out anything about the second victim?"

Lauren's brow crinkled for an moment. "Maybe…" She trailed off, and then her face got this far off look that meant she was working over some complicated problem in her head.

"So is that… a 'yes'… or a 'no'?"

"There's a lot to explain. Nobody could tell me anything useful, but I'm putting some pieces together on my own." Lauren finally snapped out of her reverie and looked at Bo again. "Are people always that unhelpful on a canvas, or was that just me not knowing what I was doing?"

"Nobody likes to volunteer potentially incriminating information. Most of the time, I had to threaten people to get anything useful. There are a few people that only respond to a good right hook," Bo shrugged and stroked the back of her hand splint absent-mindedly. The pain had decreased considerably after she'd started resting it, and she'd become so adept at adjusting her daily routine that she hardly ever noticed it was there anymore.

Lauren's brow furrowed. "Well, as much as I respect your methods, I'd rather it not come to that."

"Me too," Bo admitted. Lauren glanced at her curiously. "Not that I don't think you can't handle yourself in that situation," Bo added quickly. "It's just—you're more of a 'think first' kind of person, and I usually go at problems with fists swinging. It's a different approach, is all."

Bo looked down awkwardly; after everything, Lauren still wanted to help for some reason, and she didn't want to blow it by insinuating that Lauren couldn't hold her own in a physical altercation.

"I'd say that's an accurate assessment," Lauren said, and Bo finally looked up again once she detected the edge of humor in her voice. Sure enough, Lauren was sporting that amused half-grin that Bo was so familiar with. Bo cleared her throat unnecessarily.

"So did you get anything useful today?" Bo asked.

"Mostly cryptic half-answers. Like you said, nobody is going to cop to holding a grudge against a murder victim because they don't want to incriminate themselves. It wasn't until I met Dyson at the station to pick up the autopsy report and phone, bank, and legal records on the victims that everything started making a little more sense."

Bo leaned forward, eager to hear more. "… And?"

"First things first. Did you bring what I asked you to?"

Bo blushed bright red, and leaned back into the relative comfort and safety of her chair. She knew exactly what Lauren was talking about—it was the _only_ item Lauren asked her to bring today. "Yes," she muttered.

"Can I see it?" Lauren asked. "I want to see if there are any names on it that match the players I spoke to today."

Bo eyed the corner of her desk warily, where her list was hiding underneath a tall stack of papers. She hesitated for several long moments before reaching towards it. When she pulled it out, she held it below the desk's surface and out of sight, like a student might have done with a bad report card. Her shoulders slumped and she looked at Lauren with pure embarrassment.

"Promise you won't tell anyone?" Bo asked softly.

"I promise, Bo. This is just to help solve our situation—nothing else."

Bo held the folded list out for Lauren to take, but she couldn't bear to meet Lauren's eye while she did. She stared into the surface of her desk again and listened to the deafening crinkling of paper.

Lauren sensed Bo's unease with her list, and she couldn't see how it could _possibly_ be as bad as she was suggesting. When she unfolded the paper, she was struck by just how heavy it was.

Then she realized—it wasn't _one_ paper, it was a collection of several, stapled together at the corner to keep them organized. Bo's writing was tiny and covering both sides of each, obviously in an attempt to use as few pages as possible. Lauren's eyes grew wide when she saw the list. Bo had tried to organize them in approximately in chronological order, and the first page didn't even cover her entire first year with the Fae. She was taken aback by how many on the list were Bo's former hookups that ended badly. Lauren recognized many of them as patients or coworkers, and the more she leafed through the pages the more uncomfortable she became. At some point, she'd stopped reading the names entirely. Trying to narrow down a suspect from this collection was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

"Oh," Lauren whispered once she'd flipped through the last page.

"It's bad, isn't it?"

Making a physical list of everyone that she'd hurt in some way must have caused Bo a considerable amount of distress. Lauren knew firsthand that Bo was so focused on her own goals that she didn't always want to confront the idea that she'd inadvertently caused pain elsewhere. When either of the clans called on her for help, Bo responded without a second thought and wasn't always delicate with those she defeated or used as a means to her ends. Saving the day became far more important. Before making the list, Bo had been blissfully unaware of that fact, but now she was at least cognizant of the problem. That was a start, even if the list itself was too lengthy to be entirely useful.

"It's to be expected with all the cases you've taken over the years, Bo," Lauren said, folding the list back along its creases and tucking it out of sight, which seemed to provide Bo with some relief. "But thank you for showing me."

"No problem." The lack of judgment from Lauren caused Bo to visibly relax. She wasn't happy, but she lacked that utterly miserable look that had been present moments before.

"Listen," Lauren said, taking a deep breath. "I know you want to go over these files, but I haven't eaten anything today, and I could really use a drink. I know we were planning to meet up at the Dal later, but… maybe we could talk there now?"

Bo's head perked up. As per their agreement, Bo did promise to meet Lauren at the Dal tonight to help her practice, much in the same way they'd done together when Bo was first learning her control. Only this time, Bo would be the teacher, and Lauren was the succubus student. Bo had been looking forward to the evening, if for no other reason than to see how Lauren could handle herself. The prospect of adding a little alcohol into the mix was even more promising. After a day of playing doctor, Bo could use a stiff drink.

"So… I guess Kenzi wasn't available?"

"She's out on a date with Hale."

Bo's mouth dropped open. "Really?"

She knew that Kenzi had feelings for their siren friend, but she'd always denied it in the past. Both she and Hale did. When Bo was running around the town with Dyson, Kenzi always said that the two of them stuck together because neither was willing to be the third wheel.

"She didn't come out and say it, but I accidentally saw a text message she got earlier today. It sounds like an actual 'date' date. She doesn't know that I saw it, but she did inform me that she would probably be home late tonight."

"Oh my god—go, Kenzi. And I'm not just saying that because it works out better for me." Bo giggled. She tidied the work on her desk and stood up quickly, while Lauren looked at her with a combination of skepticism and amusement. "What? I'm hungry," Bo fibbed.

"I'm sure you are. Just grab your things and remember to lock up."

Bo did exactly as she was told, unable to help the little spring in her step as she waltzed out of the lab. For the first time since the switch, Bo was going to be able to provide _her_ expertise. She'd felt pretty useless in this human form—having none of Lauren's smarts or connections—but _this_ was her element. It was a small mercy that Lauren didn't tease her about her excitement.

Yet unbeknownst to both Bo and Lauren, Rita was watching them like a hawk from the farthest corner of the lab as they left together. And unlike Bo, she did _not_ seem pleased with what she saw.

* * *

At the Dal, Lauren spent so much time talking that she hardly touched her food. There was so much to share about the case. She hadn't gleaned much information from Bo's usual informants. As she suspected, all of them had heard about the Light Fae's murder. Quite predictably, each of them denied having any conflict with the man. Some were willing to steer Lauren in a different direction—perhaps another Fae they thought shared a grudge or someone they witnessed arguing with him recently—but all those potential leads fizzled out quickly. There were strides being made on the case, just not following the usual route of investigation.

For starters, Dyson had made up a cover story for the human's family about needing to call in a special consultant for the autopsy—that they were looking into some rare infectious human disease and they couldn't visit the body until it had been ruled free of contagions. Sometimes when testing for rare and deadly illnesses, Dyson impressed upon them, it could be up to two weeks before results came back. He assured the family that in the meantime, their loved one's body would be preserved for burial at a later date. Lauren was actually impressed with the improvisation in Dyson's part. It bought her another two weeks to hopefully solve the case without arousing human suspicion.

The human's autopsy findings were similar to the first Fae victim's, with an identical chemical signature that Lauren was coming to associate with this particular toxin. However, the human had another finding that was notably absent on the first Fae victim. A small puncture mark, similar to one from a large gauge needle, was present on the human's left flank. There was still a ring of erythema around it, as if it had never healed prior to the man's death. Considering the man's lividity, he probably sustained the needle stick in the few hours preceding his death. If Lauren's suspicions were correct, that was almost certainly the way the toxin was delivered. Now she just had to analyze the toxin's mechanism of action.

After going over the autopsy findings, Lauren immediately segued into a detailed description of the human victim's personal effects. He was a personal injury claims lawyer, so significant chunk of his calendar was dedicated to meeting his clients, and his personal notebook contained legal notes on his cases, both previously settled and those currently pending litigation.

"Look at the names here," Lauren said excitedly, pushing the deceased lawyer's leather bound date book toward Bo for her to read. "See any names you recognize?"

Before Bo glanced at the book, she shot Lauren a look that said quite plainly: _Please eat something._ Thankfully, Lauren took the hint, and started taking quick bites as if the quicker she finished eating, the quicker she could go back to geeking out over the case. Bo read through the appointments and instantly frowned.

"Hey, I _know_ these people!" Bo said rather loudly, getting the attention of a few other patrons at nearby tables. She gave them an apologetic look and returned to flipping through the book. "Donovan, Irene, Celestia… They're all Fae!" she whispered.

Lauren nodded, and wiped her mouth daintily with her napkin. "They are. Some Dark Fae, some Light Fae, and a number of humans. I can't tell if he knew he was regularly doing business with supernatural beings, but he certainly doesn't seem bothered by the crowd."

"Why would the Fae risk going to him for help?" Bo asked. "Going to a human for legal help—a human that knows nothing about the Fae—" she corrected herself, realizing how her words initially sounded, "would be chancing exposure. Surely there are enough Fae lawyers around that one of them could hire?"

"I have a hypothesis on that," Lauren said matter-of-factly.

Bo blinked at her. "Oh?"

"I tried to find a connection between the Fae victim and our human victim. Those Fae clients gave out a bigger payday than most. After winning our Light Fae's case, our lawyer won himself a cool four hundred fifty thousand dollars."

Bo nearly spat out her drink. "How much?!"

"Four hundred fifty thousand dollars," Lauren repeated. "And at a standard rate of thirty percent of the settlement value, that means that the lawsuit settled for about $1.5 million in total. His other Fae clients won similar entitlements."

"I know a few people that would kill for that. But why a choose a _human_ lawyer?"

The amount of money involved was staggering, but Bo couldn't see how that was contingent upon having a human lawyer. Her head was still spinning at the mention of a million dollar case. Lauren must have sensed that Bo wasn't making the the connection she'd clearly made some time ago.

"The Fae elders are putting up an outward show of peace, Bo, but the clan members themselves are still a divisive bunch." Lauren explained. "Neither side wants egg on its face by looking like its members can't behave themselves. Yet the elders calling for a truce doesn't mean that all the clan members are on board with it. Most of the politicians are too sheltered to remember the hostilities that still exist even now. The regular clan members are still willing to fight, but aren't willing to risk their own positions for it, so this is one way they could take revenge—legally and effectively."

"By using a human who has no idea what he's dealing with," Bo said with a dawning realization.

"That's what I think," Lauren agreed. "By using a willing human proxy—and why _wouldn't_ he be willing with that kind of payday?—they can avoid involving the elder councils and keep up with the Light versus Dark war as usual. Human judges and lawyers wouldn't know it, but Fae can heal rather quickly from injuries. If a Fae were attacked, a more lasting retaliation would be to give them a large financial hit. Using lawyers from either clan would risk exposing the operation to the elders, and humans tend to be overlooked by the Fae's upper echelons. They would have to pay any fees _personally_ it to avoid suspicion from the human legal system, and they couldn't ask the clan leaders to help foot the bill. The Fae won't admit to it, but they need huge fortunes in human money to operate. Without it, they're less powerful."

Bo's head was spinning, but Lauren's explanation did make sense. Clandestine fights between the clans still broke out regularly, as Bo was all too aware. Those that couldn't (or wouldn't) retaliate physically could do so legally by forcing a financial hit. If the human lawyer and Light Fae victim had been in cahoots, there was a decent possibility that their killer was whoever lost that case and over a million dollars, presumably a very angry Dark Fae.

"So the guy that we're looking for…" Bo trailed off.

"—probably attacked our light Fae victim and caused him significantly bodily harm. No lasting damage was done, but no ordinary human could have possibly known that. In fact, his injuries were very well documented. But just who documented it is also a mystery." Lauren removed another piece of paper from the file and handed it to Bo.

Now that Bo was working in the lab, she'd seen a piece of paper just like it not too long ago. It was a Light Fae medical examination form, but all details about the facility or Light Fae organization were obviously scrubbed from the document. At the bottom, the examining physician's signature very clearly read: _Lauren Lewis, M.D._

Yet Bo had seen the real signature enough times on Lauren's reports to know that this was definitely a forgery. In true doctor form, Lauren's signature was completely illegible. Bo didn't recognize the handwriting on the page, and judging by the look on Lauren's face, she didn't either.

But since Bo would be spending most of her time at the lab now, it was going to be her duty to find out who put that fake signature there.

* * *

Bo's face was flushed, and the tip of her nose was beginning to grow numb after only a few glasses of the Dal's buckthorn mead. Before, the stuff hardly affected her at all. Lauren on the other hand, was matching Bo's intake drink for drink, and if she was feeling any effects from the alcohol, she certainly wasn't showing it. Bo's Fae form was apparently the source of her alcohol tolerance, and now that she'd switched places with Lauren, it was the blonde who was drinking her under the table instead. That didn't deter Bo from keeping the alcohol flowing. After discussing the case, the two of them were actually having a good time. Bo had somehow forgotten that Lauren knew many of the people she worked with on a daily basis, and the woman had some hilarious stories about them that not many others were privy to. Bo's laughter was genuine and hardly ever paused since they started drinking.

"Hey, two more over here!" Bo called out to the bartender, a younger kid filling in for Hale. She'd only seen him a couple of times working in the kitchens, but never at the bar. He gave Bo a worried look before preparing their next round of drinks.

"You should take it easy, Bo," Lauren said seriously, quiet enough so nobody would overhear her. "Humans have a lower alcohol tolerance than Fae. If you're not careful, you could end up getting more drunk than you intend to."

"Well, lucky for me, I'm not the one that has to worry about my control anymore," Bo grinned.

"Right, about that… do you think I've sufficiently loosened up to begin practicing?"

The bartender placed one frosted mug in front of each woman and promptly left to the other customers overcrowding the bar. Bo immediately cradled hers with both hands—taking care to favor her splint—and took another large gulp, giving a satisfied sigh when she sat it back down on the bar top.

"Just because you said _that_—no, I don't think so," Bo said. "But we don't have all night, so I guess it's now or never."

She spun around and gestured for Lauren to join her, and they stood side by side at the bar top with the middle of their backs pressed against its edge. Over the past couple of hours the Dal had filled to capacity, with standing room only. Hale's new evening drink specials made the place far more popular as a regular hangout than it had ever been under Trick's supervision. The Dal was no longer just a way station masquerading as a bar; it was a veritable nighttime destination now. Hale half-joked about hiring dancers, but they would probably entertain the new kind of crowd he was attracting on the weekends.

It was a starkly different experience for Bo, standing here and seeing this kind of crowd, while not being affected by its energy at all. She'd done this many times before, and the heady mix of energies was enough to overwhelm an inexperienced succubus. She could still read body language well enough to know that the auras must be surging tonight too. Lauren's control would absolutely be tested. If it were anyone else, Bo would be worried, but she was certain if anyone had enough composure to succeed in this environment (and under these unique circumstances), it was Lauren.

The blonde watched the crowd intently, like she was studying it underneath a microscope. If she found anything interesting or exciting, she didn't show it. Lauren either wasn't that bothered by the intense energy at the Dal, or she had one of the best poker faces Bo had ever seen. Maybe it was a little of both.

"So first things first," Bo said. "You can read auras." It was a statement, not a question, as Bo remembered all too well the time she'd let her guard down that one time around Lauren. "But in a situation like this—lots of different people and lots of different auras—it's a little harder to tell everyone apart."

Lauren nodded in agreement.

"So find the ones that burn the hottest first," Bo instructed.

Bo watched intently as Lauren's eyes swept through the bar, searching through every corner of the Dal. She eventually settled on an older couple sitting in a corner opposite them, enjoying what appeared to be casual conversation. One woman had a shawl covering her head and the other woman was wearing a hat. It was almost easy to miss them in the crowd. They kept their faces mostly hidden as if they were trying to avoid being seen.

"There," Lauren said, nodding toward the pair of Fae.

Bo frowned in confusion. "Are you sure?"

There were a number of other couples that Bo would have picked out just by looking at them—they were touching, giving each other suggestive looks, and constantly playing off each other's movements to get closer to one another. The two women Lauren singled out were keeping their distance and avoiding making intimate eye contact with each other. Though if what Lauren said was true, there was actually a great deal of sparkage going on beyond their outward appearance.

Lauren asked, "Are you doubting me?"

"No, no…" Bo said quickly. "They just don't _look_ that into each other at all."

Lauren shrugged. "Well, looks can be deceiving. They aren't the brightest I've ever seen, but they're close. A forbidden romance, maybe?"

Bo glanced at them again, paying closer attention. There was _something_ there, now that she looked more closely. It was difficult to read the women's facial expressions through their sunglasses, but they were turned slightly toward each other, suggesting some degree of relationship. They were speaking in low tones to each other as if they didn't want to be overheard. For some reason, the sight of them struck some sort of familiarity, though Bo couldn't say why. She racked her memories trying to place the two oddly dressed women but came up empty. _It must be the alcohol_, Bo thought, and she pushed the errant thought from her mind.

"Maybe. But concentrate on that aura," Bo instructed. "You can make anyone's aura look like that with your touch, as you already know. But when you use your influence on someone, the trick is to _think_ about the arousal you want to make someone else feel. You have to feel it yourself and project it out from your own body."

Lauren's eyes grew slightly larger, but she quickly regained her composure. "So in order to make someone else… _aroused_…" Lauren seemed a little uncomfortable using the word, "… I have to make myself aroused too?"

"Not _exactly_, but sort of. You basically have the right idea."

For the first time tonight, Lauren actually appeared nervous. Controlling hunger was a mental exercise, which in all likelihood Lauren would naturally excel at, but the other parts, the powers of seduction and persuasion, required Lauren to be more loose with her desires and emotions, something Bo had an innate predilection for. With time and practice, Bo had been able to master those skills she lacked at first. She was confident Lauren would get there too.

"You ready to give it a shot?" Bo asked.

Lauren's worried look was an answer in itself. "Bo, what if it doesn't work?"

"Then you'll just be a random creeper at the bar with some serious boundary issues and a penchant for sexual harrassment."

"Not helping, Bo."

"Okay, I'm sorry," Bo placated. She dropped all hint of teasing from her voice. "The good news is, you have practically zero chance of hurting anyone since you're not feeding. But look, I get it if you don't want to go practice on a stranger right away. Are you worried about not being able to influence someone? About embarrassing yourself?"

Lauren nodded, as expected. Bo had the feeling she was worrying over nothing, but she _was_ asking Lauren to do something that didn't completely rely on logic and brain power, what she relied on more than anything else.

"Here." Bo presented her hand to Lauren in offering, and the blonde lifted an eyebrow at her suspiciously. "Take it. You can practice on me."

Lauren didn't take Bo's hand right away. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" she asked.

"Hey, if anyone here should be able to handle a succubus whammy, it should be the former succubus, right?" Bo said. "I know what's going to happen better than anyone else in this room."

Lauren still looked uncertain, but with her lack of alternative options, she grasped Bo's hand in her own. Lauren's hands were warm and smooth, a pleasant feeling after the icy mugs Bo had been nursing all night. Lauren glanced at Bo expectantly, awaiting further instruction.

"Now, think about what we just talked about," Bo told her. Lauren's face became still and expressionless while she concentrated. Bo gave her a moment to gather her senses. "You got it?"

"Yes," Lauren breathed out.

"Okay," Bo straightened her posture and swallowed thickly. "Now, push that feeling out through your hands and into mine."

Nothing happened at first. Bo waited for some sort of sensation to hit her body, but none came while she waited. She opened her mouth to give another pointer, and that's when she saw the wave of orange light descending Lauren's arm. When it finally hit Bo's hands, she nearly stumbled to the floor from the strength of it.

Bo knew generally what to expect, but being on the receiving end of a succubus' power for the first time was more than she ever expected. Her head was spinning. She was certain that if Lauren asked her to do anything now—no matter how humiliating or how painful—she would do it without a moment's hesitation. Somewhere in the recesses of Bo's mind, she knew she should want to pull her hand away for her own safety. But she was physically incapable of letting Lauren go even if she wanted to. If anything, she could only move herself closer.

"Is it working?" Lauren asked, slightly breathless from the effort it took to concentrate on the task. The waves of energy from her hand kept rolling over Bo, who was helpless and totally unwilling to stop what was happening.

"Gods, yes," Bo whispered.

Without even thinking about it, Bo leaned forward to close the distance between herself and Lauren. She couldn't focus on anything other than the woman's lips. She stared at them as she moved in closer… only inches away… nearly touching… Bo let her eyes drift shut.

Before she got to her destination, Bo felt a terrible sensation like a loss, and the world came into focus around her. Lauren had pulled her hand away, breaking their connection and looking guilty. She was staring at the floor— then at the walls—looking anywhere other than Bo, who by this time had realized exactly what happened (as well as what had nearly happened) and was blushing furiously.

"Sorry," Lauren mumbled.

Bo coughed, clearing her throat to cover her own embarrassment. "No, no, it's fine… I just… wasn't expecting you to hit me that hard on your first try is all."

"I _didn't_ pulse you that hard."

Bo gave her a confused look. "What?"

"That was a four, maybe a five," Lauren explained. "I figured since I was just starting out, I should start lower to get a feel for it. I didn't want to overdo it on my first try."

If that was Lauren's low setting, Bo wasn't sure she wanted to witness her full strength just yet. She'd been hit with a four out of ten succubus pulse, and her heart was still palpitating and she had a residual ache someplace she didn't dare mention to Lauren.

"Well either way, I think you've got it figured out," Bo said as offhandedly as possible, though inside she was still reeling. "See? You were worrying over nothing."

She turned to retrieve her drink and quickly downed the rest of it, eager for the alcohol to numb some of the tingly feelings over her body that hadn't gone away yet. It didn't have the immediate effect she was looking for. Bo turned around again just in time to see another visitor approaching, and this one made the hairs on Bo's neck stand on end.

It was Evony.

Her gaze was almost predatory as she came up to Lauren, wasting no time as she stepped right into her personal space. After pulsing Bo, Lauren's defenses would be down, and she would have a harder time resisting any advances. Bo could resist her easily—but it was only because she'd had years of practice. Lauren didn't have that luxury. The Morrigan was dressed to kill in one of her shortest black skirts with a plunging neckline, showing off as much skin as physically possible. Her tall stilettos could have stabbed someone in the heart if she put her mind to it.

"Why, if it isn't the famous Lauren Lewis," Evony greeted in her most sultry voice, finally getting Lauren's attention. She was just as surprised as Bo by her sudden appearance, and when the Morrigan lifted her finger to stroke Lauren's chin suggestively, Lauren's face barely concealed her panic. "What a _pleasure_ it is to see you here."

Bo stiffened in disapproval.

"Likewise," Lauren whispered.

"It's a shame I don't see you around more often," Evony said sweetly. "Someone like you, with all your—" she stared openly at Lauren's cleavage, "—_assets._ I usually don't spend much time here a the Dal, rough crowd and everything, but I may have to make an exception if you're going to be hanging around here this much." Evony gave Lauren her winningest smile, and Bo could tell Lauren wasn't going to be able to last much longer if Evony kept up her current line of pursuit.

"I—I'm flattered."

Bo rolled her eyes, but nobody saw her. She wanted to hit something… or someone. Maybe Evony's smug face.

The Morrigan didn't let Bo's facial expressions stop her. Evony continued: "You really should take more cases for me. You know I pay well, and I've missed seeing you around the Dark compound. If you came around more, I could make it worth your while. You know us Dark Fae have more fun anyways." Evony let out a flirty, low-pitched chuckle that was clearly intended to be sensual. She wasn't exactly inviting Lauren over just for casework, that much was certain. And Lauren's tenuous hold on her control was starting to slip.

"I'll have to… think about it…"

"What's there to think about?" Evony smiled widely, and leaned closer into Lauren, who looked about ready to faint. Their faces moved closer together, too close, and Bo realized with a wave of horror what Evony was trying to do.

Just as Evony tilted her head to the side to close the last bit of space between them, Bo grasped Lauren's forearm and pulled her away. There was no way Lauren would have been able to do it under her own power.

"That's enough, Evony," Bo said firmly. "She said she'll think about it. That means it's time for you to go." She kept a firm hold on Lauren's arm and glared at Evony threateningly, as if daring her to retaliate.

Evony simply flashed her trademark smirk. It was almost as if she were purposefully goading Bo. The Morrigan stepped toward her and glanced at the human curiously. Bo forced herself to stand completely still when the woman lifted her hand to the base of her neck, running her finger along the edge of the Ash's pendant. Evony could have melted Bo into a puddle on the spot if she wanted to, and Bo would have been powerless to fight back. She glared at Morrigan defiantly while she played with her necklace.

"I would be careful if I were you, Dr. Dennis," Evony said. Her tone was gentle but her eyes were alight with mischief. "The Ash has informants everywhere. He wouldn't be pleased to hear that his pet is threatening a Dark Fae leader."

"In this case it would be justified," Bo shot back.

Evony smiled. "If you were _my_ pet, you'd be in a muzzle by now. You're rather feisty today, doctor. It's not like you at all—are you sure you're feeling all right?"

"Never better."

"Hmm…" Evony released the pendant after a few tense moments and stepped away from the angry human. She turned again to face Lauren. During the tense exchange, the she had regained much of her former composure. "At any rate, it was lovely seeing you out tonight, Lauren." The blonde nodded stiffly at the Morrigan's words. Not one to be ignored, Evony leaned in once more to whisper suggestively into Lauren's ear: "Call me if you're looking for some extra work. The benefits of consulting with my side are _very_ satisfying."

Without waiting to be dismissed, Evony sauntered away out of sight, and presumably out of the bar. Lauren stared open-mouthed as she walked away.

"Gods, I _hate_ her!" Bo hissed.

Lauren blinked rapidly, like she was working through something in her head. "Did that really just happen? I wasn't imagining it?" she mused out loud.

"You mean, did the Morrigan try to seduce you in a bar full of people?" Bo asked with a tinge of annoyance. "Because yes, that just happened."

"Why did you stop her?"

Bo stared at Lauren, nonplussed. Of all the reactions from Lauren, that certainly wasn't one she was expecting. Lauren of all people had to be aware of just how dangerous the Morrigan was. "Are you being serious right now? Evony Fleurette Marquise? I just saved you from a freaking train wreck… you should be thanking me!"

"Why would—wait a second… are you _jealous?_"

Bo's jaw dropped open. "No!"

"Really? Because think about it, Bo. Evony came here and started flirting with me. Since we've been switched, she thought she was really putting the moves on you. She was trying to seduce _you_—not me. You can't react like that, or she's going to start getting suspicious."

"That still doesn't make any sense."

"Why?"

"Because Evony has hated my guts for the past two years—ever since I tricked her into taking me back to her bedroom. She thought she was gonna get lucky, and I left her handcuffed her to her bedpost while I raided her office for secret files. I've even got the picture to prove it." She gestured to her cell phone, which was now being carried by Lauren. "We haven't exactly been on speaking terms ever since."

Lauren looked horrified at this revelation. "You did _what_?!"

"Relax, it's fine. She's not going to try to kill you; she's got too much to lose."

"Then why is she flirting with you—I mean, me? Why do that if she hasn't done it in years?" Lauren asked. "What's her angle?"

"I don't know," Bo said honestly. "I'd keep an eye out for her, but I don't think either of us should go stirring up shit with the Morrigan now… not while we're stuck like this. The best thing to do is to watch our backs and make sure she doesn't try to blindside us."

Lauren didn't seem too thrilled with the plan of action, but there weren't many other options available. Lauren and Bo were still getting used to their new forms. They were nowhere near strong enough of a team to take someone down like the Morrigan yet—not with all the resources Evony had at her disposal. Bo was certain she was up to no good though, and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out what master plan Evony had in mind.

* * *

The entire next day, Bo was preoccupied with her thoughts about Evony—about what she could possibly be up to, and that horrifying moment when she nearly kissed Lauren in the Dal. The more Bo thought about it, the more frustrated she became. There was no logical explanation for her behavior.

It didn't help that Bo had plenty of down time to mull over these thoughts. Lauren had her doing some chemical analyses on the samples from the autopsy, but she wasn't doing them in any intellectual capacity. It was a testament to just how well Bo was doing pretending to be a doctor that Lauren actually allowed her to touch her prized medical equipment. Bo remembered Lauren mentioning something about spectrometers, sequencers, and some other long word that she couldn't pronounce, but she needn't memorize the names. Lauren supplied pictures of each device (which Bo had tucked away in the pocket of her lab coat) and told her which ones to use.

Before Bo left for the compound, Lauren dropped her apartment by to give Bo a detailed description of each test to run on each machine and what to do with each sample. All of them were automated, so Bo didn't have to do much other than push on some buttons. One set of instructions read: _Place the test tube inside the chamber, close the lid, press the green start button, turn the dial to sixty, wait for an hour, and collect the printout. _Bo followed the instructions carefully down to the last letter, but her mind was free to roam elsewhere while the fancy machines did the bulk of the work. That was probably unfortunate, especially today of all days. All Bo had to do was collect the data sheets generated by the machines and bring them to Lauren, who would be doing all the interpreting. To Bo, there were just a bunch of nonsense abbreviations she didn't understand and columns upon columns of numbers that made no sense. To Lauren's credit, whenever she explained scientific findings to Bo, she would always do it in a way that were understandable even to someone without her extensive academic background.

Bo had just started running the last sample, when Rita announced herself behind her. She cleared her throat loudly to get Bo's attention.

"Excuse me, Dr. Dennis?"

Bo turned around to face her mousy looking assistant. "Yes?"

"The Ash has requested to see you."

According to Bo's instructions, she had another half an hour before her data sheets would be available. That was half an hour until she could grab all of her work and meet up with Lauren to review the case. If she needed to meet with Trick, she would rather do it on her way out of the compound.

"Tell him I'll be there in half an hour," Bo responded.

"You'll need to go now. He says that it's urgent."

Bo tried to read Rita's expression, but here eyes were difficult to see behind her thick glasses. She didn't appear worried at all; if anything, Rita was bored by the whole ordeal. Bo believed that if Rita was bored, it was probably for the best. There was probably nothing to worry about.

"Fine," Bo said, and she strolled casually out of the lab.

Bo was only just starting to get used to being anonymous in the compound. Before, everyone noticed her and would crowd around her in the hallways. Since she'd been a human, the Light Fae rarely cast her a second glance when she was going about the compound. If she was lucky, Bo _might_ have gotten someone to tell her good morning—but only if she said it first. As she went to Trick's office, however, Bo get the distinct feeling that people were staring at her.

Some looks were curious, others were suspicious, and there was one frightening bunch that Bo recognized as the security team. They all looked absolutely irate with her. Bo put her head down and went directly to Trick's office without taking a detour. He was seated at his desk on the dais in the center of his large stone office. Normally, Bo would have greeted him informally, but she was starting to get used to the more formal addresses she had to use with everyone above her station, which was essentially everyone outside the lab.

"You wanted to see me, Ash?" Bo said.

Trick answered: "Yes. Please close the door, Dr. Dennis."

Bo did as she was told and returned to her place at the foot of Trick's desk, waiting patiently to hear why he wanted to speak to her.

"I suppose you know why I asked to see you today," Trick said, as if the answer was completely obvious.

Bo shook her head. "No, I can't say that I do."

Trick sighed. "I have received reports of your behavior last night, specifically at the Dal Riata. I should reiterate to you that this is unacceptable behavior for you as a ward of the Light Fae."

Bo quickly recounted what she'd done last night. She and Lauren had dinner and went over the double murder case they were investigating, and they'd had some drinks after that. There wasn't anything, at least in Bo's mind, that suggested any sort of foul play. What was Trick talking about? Evony showed up later, but Bo had barely interacted with her at all. In fact, she was proud of herself for standing up to the Dark Fae leader, especially as a human. The Light Fae should be proud of her too.

"What exactly about my behavior is unacceptable?" Bo asked, genuinely curious about what she was accused of doing wrong.

"You need to start minding the company you keep, Dr. Dennis."

The half-answers were beginning to irritate Bo. She was getting the impression that Trick wasn't joking around, but she still didn't have any idea what he was upset over. "Who exactly are you talking about?" Bo asked tetchily.

Trick raised his voice in response to Bo's increasing agitation. "I'm talking about Lauren Lewis!"

The idea of Trick considering Lauren bad company was laughable. He'd always spoken well of her in the past, and unless Lauren had done something before Trick got to the compound, Bo couldn't think of any reason for him to he this adamant about Bo not spending time with her.

"What about her exactly?" Bo asked.

"Lauren and I are family, as you well know," he said. Bo ignored the technical falseness of his claim because in his mind, Bo and Lauren were switched. "I would never begrudge her the choice to remain unaligned. The elders have tolerated her status because she's earned their respect and continues to serve their interests when the need arises. She's Fae as well as a prominent ally, and she's earned that right."

"So what's the problem, then?"

"The elders are not so comfortable with _your_ ties to the succubus right now, especially since she was seen apparently being… _intimate_… in public with the Morrigan last night. I've been trying to convince them that you're as trustworthy as anyone else on our staff, but your prominent status here—as a human—already makes many of the elders uncomfortable. It gives them the wrong impression, like they may have a reason to doubt your loyalty. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that you and Lauren are on speaking terms again. And I'm sure that if the elders saw an opportunity to use that potential relationship, you would certainly be allowed to see Lauren. But until such a time arises, until the elders are convinced she's not arranging a current alliance with Evony Fleurette Marquise, then you'll need to keep your distance, Dr. Dennis. Consider this a 'cease and desist.' Do I make myself clear?"

Bo was too stunned to say anything right away. Unbeknownst to Trick, Bo was his granddaughter, and he was trying to hide her out of sight so that he didn't offend the sensitivities of his bigoted colleagues. The necklace, which she hadn't paid much attention to after the first day she wore it, now burned hot against her chest.

When Bo spoke again, her voice was cold and full of barely suppressed fury. "So let me get this straight… now you're going to tell me who I can and can't spend my free time with?"

"As it affects the Light Fae and our interests? Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing." Trick answered matter-of-factly, in such a calm voice that he might have been commenting on the weather. "I sense that you're upset. You're familiar with our policies here, doctor; none of this should come as a surprise to you. I hope this is not you having residual hard feelings after I denied your request earlier. Please remember that all of this is out of my hands, Bo."

Bo's ears prickled at the mention of a request she made—or rather, one Lauren had made. Despite the fact that Trick technically owned her now, Bo had scarcely seen him since she'd been human, and she certainly hadn't made a formal request of him. That left only Lauren. Bo didn't dare ask Trick to explain any further. The way he spoke of it, the request sounded like it was for something major, and pretending like she'd forgotten all about it would probably arouse too much suspicion. She filed the bit of information away to ask Lauren about later.

The past few minutes had done a number on Bo's generally positive perception of Trick. Though she'd only known him for a few years, Trick was her grandfather, and she always thought highly of him. He was a teacher, a mentor, and a friend. But hearing him speak so candidly and so brusquely about her now that she was human changed something about their relationship. Bo never got to see that side of him before now, and now that she had, she would never be able to unsee it. He was exactly the type of person that Bo would have railed against when she first declared herself unaligned. Trick was a staunch supporter of the status quo, didn't want any of the problematic shit the Fae did to change, and would do anything to keep his supporters happy—even if that meant stepping on the little people along the way. Bo had never been on the receiving end of that treatment before, but now she could confidently say that it _sucked_.

Bo wanted to get as far away from Trick as she could, and as quickly as humanly possible. The normally fuzzy feelings she had after speaking to her grandpa weren't there anymore. Bo's rebellious streak was more difficult to contain, however, and she knew exactly where she was going next.

"Is that all then?" Bo asked, making a valiant effort to hide the anger threatening to surface.

"That's all. Please remember what I've said, Dr. Dennis." He gestured toward the door to dismiss her.

Bo stormed back to the lab, and by the time she returned, the machines had finished processing her last round of tests. Bo collected all the data sheets for Lauren and shoved them inside her bag. She grabbed her office phone and quickly punched in a familiar number. It picked up after the second ring.

"Hey Lauren, it's me," Bo said. "Meet me at the Dal in fifteen minutes—it's important." Lauren agreed, and Bo was walking out the lab just a couple of minutes later.

Unfortunately, when Bo reached the automatic doors at the main entrance, she was greeted by a familiar face. The ogre she punched on her first day was standing in the middle of the exit, blocking her retreat and looking as menacing as ever. Bo felt a phantom pain shoot through her hand at the mere memory of what happened. She swallowed nervously and avoided making eye contact with him. Physically, Bo was no match for him in her human state.

"You can't leave well enough alone, can you Dennis?" the ogre said in his usual gruff voice. "Looks like you're coming with me, doctor. Ash's orders. It's a shame we have to do this again."

He grabbed Bo's shoulder, and with one smooth movement, he had both of Bo's arms twisted behind her back and in restrained in metal cuffs. Knowing that resisting him was futile, Bo didn't protest much as she was marched back through the compound. Her sense of worry grew once the ogre kept marching her past Trick's office. They descended the staircase and into the dungeons, bypassing Bo's original cell from the day of the switch. As they climbed deeper and deeper, the lights on the walls grew more sparse. Bo could barely see by the time they stopped in front of a heavy metal door.

The moment Bo started down the staircase, she'd resigned herself to the dungeon. Had Trick been listening in on her short phone conversation with Lauren? How else could he have apprehended her so quickly? However Trick had done it, Bo was certain she was about to be sentenced to another stay in the dungeons for her disobedience. Her first cell didn't have bathroom facilities… Were these the long-term units Bo feared during her initial confinement? She shuddered being stuck in this cold, damp cell for more than a couple of days. The ogre's keys clanked loudly against the thick steel door, and it swung open, revealing nothing but absolute blackness inside.

"How long will I be down here?" Bo asked frantically.

"I wouldn't worry about that. After a couple of hours, it's not going to make much difference to you anyways."

Bo didn't have much time to ponder what he meant. The ogre shoved her roughly inside the cell and slammed the door shut behind her, leaving her lost in the total darkness. There wasn't even a beam of light coming in through the cracks in the door. Once the faint echo of his heavy boots faded into the distance, Bo was alone.

Or so she thought.

The sounds seemed amplified in the dark, enclosed cage. Bo's other senses were starting to compensate for the transient loss of vision, and she heard the unmistakable sound of breathing coming from the other side of the cell.

"Hello?" Bo called out in the direction of the sound. "Is anybody there?"

If it came down to some sort of struggle, Bo would be severely hindered with her hands behind her back. The sound of shallow breaths grew closer, and Bo tensed in alarm.

"Hello?" Bo tried again. Instead of an answer, Bo received a cold hand closing around her arm.

Before she had a chance to ask the phantom another question, a hot, searing pain wracked through every fiber of Bo's body, almost as if her very nerves were on fire. It was too painful to even scream. In actuality, the sensation probably only lasted a minute, though that minute provided more than enough pain to last an entire lifetime. Bo briefly wondered if she was about to die, but before she had a chance to formulate another coherent thought, her world faded away into nothingness.


	6. No Pain, No Gain

There was no way for Bo to tell how long it had been since passing out. The pain that had taken her over was still present but less fulminant. In a way, that made it worse; now Bo was able to mentally process how badly her body was hurting and how miserable she was. The only small mercy she was able to register was that she was no longer in the cold, dark, and damp dungeons far beneath the Light Fae compound.

Wherever she was, she was lying on a soft, comfortable surface, and there was a pleasant warmth caressing her face that she was just barely able to feel through her pain.

Bo let her eyes drift open and recognized the bright room immediately. It was the bedroom of her apartment—or rather, it was where she was staying since she'd turned human. Bo couldn't claim the painting of a naked woman on the wall as her own design choice, even though it was as tasteful and artistic as everything else in the apartment. That had been Lauren's preferred decor, and not too long ago, this had officially been Lauren's place.

Bo had no recollection of leaving her cell and certainly had no memory of ending up here. The last thing she recalled before the excruciating assault was being rooted to the spot by a cold hand.

She attempted to push herself upright, which she quickly regretted when another incapacitating surge of pain shot through her entire body, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. With a loud, agonized yelp, she fell back into the soft bed and laid completely still. The pain was still there, but it wasn't nearly as bad when she stayed motionless. Soft footsteps sounded from outside, and Bo tensed underneath the covers, not knowing who would be coming for her or if she would be punished again. She honestly didn't think she would survive another round with whatever she'd faced in there earlier.

To Bo's pleasant surprise, it wasn't someone from the Ash's security detail that had come to check in on her. It was Lauren.

Her presence could only mean that whatever happened was over, though Bo still couldn't fathom what happened or why Lauren was being allowed to see her, especially after Bo had decided to flaunt Trick's edict before she passed out—the same one that landed her in the dungeon in the first place.

"Hey, you," Lauren said softly, giving soft smile. Bo tried to smile back at her, but it hurt too much, and she ended up contorting her face into a weird grimace. "It's good to see you awake. After so long, I was starting to worry."

Bo didn't have time to get a question in before Lauren swooped in and immediately starting examining her. With a thermometer stuck in her mouth and a blood pressure cuff securely fastened around her arm, Bo couldn't have moved even if she dared to try. She stilled, watching Lauren closely as she pressed a stethoscope against her heart. Bo hadn't seen her carrying it when she walked in; it came from Lauren's oversized medical bag on the floor, which had been there even before the blonde arrived to check on her.

"How long was I out?" Bo asked hoarsely.

Lauren removed the thermometer, apparently satisfied with the temperature, and glanced at a clock hanging from her bedroom wall. Based on that observation, Bo was expecting to hear that she'd been out for an hour or two. She wasn't expecting Lauren's actual answer: "Three days."

"What?!" Bo said in alarm. She tried to sit up quickly, but her body protested violently, and she quickly lied back down. "How did I—" Bo paused and glanced down at her attire. She wasn't in the jeans and button she'd been wearing earlier. Instead, she was in a soft grey Yale t-shirt and loosely fitting pajama pants.

There was so much Bo wanted to know all at once… how she got out of the dungeons, what that _thing_ was that touched her, why she'd been unconscious for so long. She blinked several times in confusion. Lauren sat down on the edge of the bed as gently as she could, though the slight jostling of the mattress made Bo wince. The blonde hesitated before answering, and for the first time, Bo waited patiently for her explanation.

"It was… a mesperyian," Lauren said, watching Bo's reaction closely. The word was obviously meant to engender some sort of response from Bo, presumably a negative one, but she had no idea what Lauren was talking about.

Lauren continued: "Mesperyians are most notorious for feeding on pain, Bo. Not many Fae have actually met one personally. They tend to hang mostly around human hospitals, feeding from the pain of the sick and the dying. Feeding off other Fae without their consent is generally frowned upon socially, so most of them are outcasts."

"They sound like they'd be fun at parties," Bo quipped, mostly to cover up the shudder that passed through her body.

"Since their strength is predicated on the pain of others…" Lauren swallowed and quickly looked away, staring determinedly into the floor, "… they also have the ability to _make_ others feel pain if the need arises."

Bo suddenly felt sick to her stomach. "Is that what happened to me?" she whispered.

Lauren nodded. "The one that have broken laws or fed from Fae without permission are sentenced to the dungeons, where they're essentially starved for years on end. Then the starving mesperyians are used to inflict the severest punishments on others. That's where you were taken—to a mesperyian's dungeon."

"Those _things_ are sick." Bo said, her tone full of disgust.

"They can't help it, Bo. They've been starved, and like any Fae that needs to feed to survive, they've only acted on instinct. They've earned a bad reputation because of _how_ they feed and how they've been misused by their leaders, but they're not inherently evil creatures. I've met a few that have gotten jobs in cancer wards, just to spend all day with terminally ill humans—talking to them, listening to them, playing games with them. In some cases, when family has all but abandoned them, the mesperyians are often their greatest source of happiness and comfort. And in return, the mesperyians are comforted by the humans. It's symbiosis—a perfect example of a mutually beneficial human and Fae relationship. When something else—or someone else—intervenes and disrupts that balance, it inevitably hurts both sides."

Bo felt some of the rage she wanted to hurl at these creatures start to slip away at Lauren's words.

She imagined what she would have been like as a succubus if she'd been starved for years and thrown into a room with another person. If their roles had been reversed, Bo would have probably attacked them straight away, completely powerless to stop herself. Her long body count, which she'd been so happy to put behind her, would start climbing all over again.

Unfortunately, that realization did nothing to alleviate any of the pain that was still plaguing her body. The two women sat in silence for a moment, Lauren apparently lost in her own thoughts and Bo trying vainly to hide how awful she felt.

"I'm not going to be stuck like this forever, am I?" Bo asked.

"No, you're not going to be stuck like that forever. In my research, I've taken to calling it a 'global neuropathic hyperalgesia.' All of your sensory neurons are irritated after the attack and are still firing pain signals. There won't be any lasting harm to your body, but your brain still perceives the sensation. There are no marks, no long-term injuries, so you'll be expected to go back to work in a few days when you've fully recovered."

"Assholes," Bo huffed. She sighed and closed her eyes against the bright sunshine pouring into the room, attempting to relax as much as possible while she still could. "Is that why Trick let you see me? Does he feel sorry for me or something?" When Lauren didn't answer right away, Bo's eyes snapped open again. "He _did_ let you come over here… right?"

Lauren looked terribly awkward all of a sudden. "Well, no… not exactly."

Bo simply stared at her with a mixture of confusion and amazement. The Lauren Lewis she knew didn't break rules, especially ones made by the Ash. Yet here she was, deliberately disobeying his orders, and to check on Bo, no less. Bo found herself oddly impressed by the turn of events.

"Oh, I'm just dying to hear that explanation," Bo said playfully. In reality, however, she was dead serious.

"When you didn't show up at the Dal after you called me, I figured something must have happened. I came to the compound right away. Rita was actually the one that told me what happened and where you'd been taken. I followed the guards that took you back here, and now, here I am."

Bo frowned in confusion. "So they just let you inside?"

"Let's just say I used some of the new skills I've been practicing." At the blank look on Bo's face, Lauren held her hands up and wiggled her fingers, and Bo immediately understood.

"So you succubused them?" Bo asked with a smile.

"A few times, yes. They're stationed just outside, so I've tried to stay here as much as possible to minimize the number of times I run into them. But I've still had to make some supply runs over the past couple of days. Neither of them suspect anything, and I'm pretty sure one of them was going to propose to me a few hours ago." Bo couldn't help it when she laughed, but it was quickly extinguished by a sharp stabbing sensation in her chest. Lauren gave her a sympathetic look.

"You should be careful with that," Bo said. "The more you use your influence on people, the quicker you'll get drained and hungry again. Then you'll have no choice but to feed."

"Let me worry about that. You just worry about getting some rest so your body can heal itself. It will be too painful for you to move for the next couple of days, so if you need anything else, I'll be in the next room. There are no remedies, medicinal or supernatural, that can speed things along, I'm afraid. The best way to pass the time along is to sleep it off, and that I _can_ help you with."

Lauren bent forward to her medical bag, fishing out a dark, unmarked glass bottle that looked as if it were at least a hundred years old. She poured a maroon-colored liquid into a sterile cup and handed it to Bo, who took it slowly.

"This is a highly potent Fae sleeping draught that should help you for the next few hours. Compared to some other medicines, it doesn't taste too bad either."

Bo stared at her cup for a few moments while Lauren busied herself with returning the contents of her bag to their rightful places. Falling asleep _did_ sound appealing, compared to the hell her body was currently enduring. But there was something that was bothering Bo, something that she needed to know before she drifted off into unconsciousness again.

Anytime Lauren consulted on a case, she was able to get the answers Bo needed one way or another. Sometimes it was by looking up ancient references in books Bo didn't have access to, and other times it was by using scientific methods Bo would never understand. But the way Lauren was able to detail the experience of a mesperyian attack insinuated that she'd studied the effects closely, and now that Bo had witnessed how casually Trick had resorted to that punishment made her suspect that the knowledge Lauren gained was from firsthand experience.

If Bo didn't ask now, there was no telling if she was going to remember to do it when she woke up. The topic seemed like it could be a bit sensitive though, and Bo didn't exactly know how to ask without upsetting her.

Lauren was clueless to Bo's inner thoughts. All she noticed was that Bo wasn't taking the sleeping draught right away. She asked: "Is there something wrong with the medicine? Did you not want anything to help you sleep?"

Bo gave a slight shake of her head. "No, nothing like that."

"Oh. Well you should probably not keep it out too long. That particular mix loses its potency if left exposed to the air for more than a couple of minutes."

"Can I…" she frowned, "… ask you a question first?"

Lauren detected the seriousness of Bo's request and immediately laid down the items she was busy organizing, giving Bo her undivided attention. The afternoon sun pouring through the windows struck Lauren's hair brilliantly, making her entire face glow like an angel's, and Bo suddenly became hyperaware of just how haggard she must have appeared in comparison. Lauren graciously said nothing about it.

"Of course," Lauren said. "What's on your mind?"

Bo took a deep breath and forced her hands to relax before she crushed the plastic cup in her grasp. "It's just you seem really familiar with all this mesperyian stuff…" Her voice trailed off, and she looked at Lauren expectantly, hoping that the blonde would sense what she wanted to know so she wouldn't have to voice her question aloud.

A guarded look immediately came over Lauren's face. "That's not a question."

"It just… doesn't seem like the stuff you'd read about in books. You know exactly what I'm feeling right now way beyond the level of scientific curiosity. To me at least, that sounds like the voice of experience."

"I'm still not getting what your question is."

"Lauren, please." Bo implored her.

Lauren was more than smart enough to realize by now what Bo wanted to know, yet she was still being avoidant for some reason. It had been personal, Bo realized, but given the circumstances, she thought Lauren would tell her. They'd actually been working quite well together in their difficult situation.

_I guess I was wrong about that_, Bo thought as the silence drew out longer and longer. The minutes passed, and as they did Bo grew increasingly certain that she'd ruined everything by prying too deeply into Lauren's privacy.

"The first time it happened, I had only been with the Fae for three weeks," Lauren said softly some time later, breaking the deafening silence.

Bo pushed herself up further on her pillow so she could see Lauren more clearly, ignoring the way her body protested the maneuver. Lauren's expression was impassive as she reflected on the memory. "What happened?" Bo asked.

"I was angry when I first realized what my servitude entailed—how I would never find a way out of the arrangement, no matter how hard I tried. So, I rebelled against every order the Ash gave me. I was summoned to the Ash several times to address my behavior, but I didn't care about what he had to say. Every research project he assigned to me, I sabotaged it. I destroyed some of the Light Fae's rarest tissue samples kept on reserve in the medical archives. I stopped showing up to work."

Bo's eyes widened as she imagined Lauren deliberately subverting the Ash's orders like that. She'd always been so dedicated to her work, so adamant about everything in the lab being done thoroughly and correctly. This had apparently been before she knew Lauren, Bo realized, but she still found it difficult to picture.

Lauren continued: "I hated what I was doing, but it was the only way I felt like I could express myself. The Ash tolerated it for a while—probably hoped I would get tired of defying him—but after a couple of weeks with nothing but complaints from my staff, the elders forced him to take action."

"So they threw you in one of the dungeons with a mesperyian," Bo finished for her.

Lauren nodded. "And after that, I learned that it was useless to try to fight back against them. I've spent years living under that system, Bo. I play the part of doctor by day, but when I take off that white coat and leave the compound, I'm reminded again that ultimately I'm nothing more than a dog with a collar—punishable by force if necessary. There's nothing I could ever do to resist the kind of power they wield against their humans."

So Lauren _had_ indeed been in this same position before. Unlike Bo, however, Lauren had nobody else there to take care of her. She'd been left alone after the attack, left to fend for herself. As terrible as Bo was feeling right now, she didn't know how Lauren managed to survive it alone.

"Did you remember it afterward?" Bo asked softly.

"Not immediately, no." Lauren said. "Unfortunately, bits and pieces that I'd blacked out started coming back later. How much memory is recovered seems to vary on a case by case basis. The second time, I remembered nearly all of the attack—all two hours and forty three minutes of it."

Bo's entire body shuddered involuntarily. She'd passed out after less than one minute and couldn't imagine being conscious for _hours_ in that excruciating hell. "Just how many times have you been sentenced, exactly?" she asked, almost dreading hearing the answer.

"Only twice."

"And the other time? What was that for?" Bo asked. Lauren appeared conflicted about answering, so Bo continued with a different question, voicing her own suspicions aloud. She kept her tone gentle as she asked: "Did the second time have something to do with your request to Trick—the one he denied?"

After hearing this, Lauren's eyes widened for an instant before she regained her usual composure. If Bo hadn't been paying close attention, she might have missed the reaction. Whatever the request had been about, Lauren clearly hadn't expected Bo to know about it.

"No," Lauren said softly. "It was long before that—before Hale or Lachlan had been crowned Ash."

Bo nodded. She vividly recalled the former Ash who was in power when she'd first entered the Fae scene, and she hadn't been all that upset when her mother's attack landed him in a coma. After the Light appointed Lachlan, she never even heard what ultimately happened to him. "What was he punishing you for?"

Lauren ducked her head low after Bo's question, hiding her face. After a minute or so, she stood from the bed without warning, wearing that politely concerned doctor look that Bo was so familiar with. When she saw that, Bo knew their personal discussion was over.

Lauren helped Bo lift the small cup of sleeping medicine to her lips and tilted it upwards. The dark liquid tasted bittersweet with just a hint of peppermint. A wave of overwhelming fatigue came over Bo immediately after she drank it, and she had to fight hard to keep her eyes open. Whatever Lauren gave her, she wasn't exaggerating about its potency.

"We can finish talking later, Bo," Lauren said. "You should get some rest now. I'll still be here when you wake up."

Bo wasn't going to last much longer before she fell asleep. Her limbs were heavy, and her mind growing increasingly fuzzy. She still had questions to ask Lauren, and she wanted to remember hem when she woke up.

"Promise?" she asked in slurred voice, nearly falling asleep.

Lauren placed a comforting hand on Bo's forearm, gently enough to not cause her any pain. Then she lifted the covers to tuck Bo in for sleep.

"I promise," Lauren said as Bo's eyes drifted closed once again.

* * *

The next time Bo awoke, she wasn't surprised by her surroundings nor the persistent pain in her body. The only indication that any time had passed was the afternoon sun descending in the sky, causing a warm, orange light to fill the room.

Sometime during the previous few hours, Lauren had dragged an armchair in from the living room to Bo's bedside. A collection of case files surrounded her, stacked on the armrests and in neat little piles by her feet. She was completely engrossed in the yellow legal pad she was reading. Bo watched her silently for a moment, taking in the way she would frown when she got to a particular bit of text that apparently displeased her.

"You look like someone just stole your favorite microscope," Bo rasped, still groggy from sleep.

Lauren's head popped up immediately, and her features easily relaxed into a gentle smile when she saw Bo was comfortable and in no distress. "Good morning."

"It's afternoon," Bo corrected playfully.

Lauren chuckled. "Let's not get pedantic."

Bo watched her for a few seconds, longer than she would have usually. Lauren tidied her files before turning her attention to Bo—and catching her staring. Bo quickly coughed and looked away innocently.

"So what are you working on anyway?" Bo asked, her face flushing red.

Lauren tucked her long hair behind her ear. "I'm taking a harder look into our John Doe's finances. He had some interesting business partners in the weeks leading up to his death."

"I'm dying to hear it," Bo said. She looked away awkwardly. "Do you think that first I could… you know, maybe…" she trailed off, glancing toward the bathroom.

Lauren gave her a quizzical look, and it took a moment before Bo's words slowly sank in. Her eyes widened. "Oh."

"Thought I could use a bathroom break and a good cleanup."

"Of course. Do you think you're able to walk yet?"

Bo took a deep breath. She probably wasn't, but she wouldn't know until she tried. "Let's see, shall we?"

Bo pushed the covers back from her body, and as she swung her legs over the side of the bed, an incredible ache tore through her body. It wasn't as overwhelming as it had been the first time, but the pain was enough to knock the breath from her. She hesitated, and Lauren sat up in alarm.

"Do you need any help?" Lauren urged. She swiftly sat her files aside, ready to assist Bo in any way she could.

Bo considered turning down the offer, but loath as she was to admit it, she seriously needed the help. She turned her head to the floor and nodded, utterly embarrassed by her own helplessness.

Lauren moved next to Bo on the bed, picking up Bo's arm and draping it across her shoulder for support. "You ready?"

Bo latched on to Lauren's shoulder with her hand and gritted her teeth. "As ready as I'm ever gonna be."

On Lauren's count of three, the two rose simultaneously. Bo's pain ratcheted again, surging up and down her spine and radiating through her entire body. She froze on her feet, and her legs wobbled beneath her. Bo closed her eyes and concentrated on pushing the pain from her mind.

"I'm right here, Bo," Lauren assured her. "I've got you."

Bo kept her eyes closed but reached blindly for Lauren with her free hand. Lauren caught her hand in midair and grasped it firmly, giving it a reassuring squeeze. She didn't pressure Bo to move any faster than she felt comfortable.

It took an incredible amount of concentration to push the pain from the forefront of Bo's mind. She knew there was no physical injury holding her back, just an overwhelming perception of pain, and she was able to distract herself from it by focusing on the details of her surroundings. The feeling of the lush carpet beneath her feet, the way her too big t-shirt brushed lightly against her body, and the feeling of Lauren's hand, warm and soothing against her own…

Bo took a shaky breath and stepped forward, keeping Lauren tightly at her side. The first step was awful, but the next was incrementally less so. Her gait became less hesitant, and although it didn't hurt any less, Bo was expecting the sensations and didn't let them debilitate her.

Lauren drew up a hot bath and sat on the edge of the tub while she waited for Bo to finish. When the bath was ready, she stood only to find Bo staring disbelievingly at her, grasping at the wall to keep her balance and trying desperately not to show how badly she was feeling.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Bo asked wonderingly.

Lauren shrugged, sticking her hands inside her jeans pockets. "That's what friends do, right?"

An unexpected twinge of sadness gripped the insides of Bo's chest. _Friends_. She wasn't sure if she wanted anything else yet, or even when she'd be ready to even entertain the idea, but hearing Lauren accept the notion so easily stung.

Bo had shown Lauren her worst—her anger, her spite, her pettiness—all parts of her character, but pieces that normally paled in comparison to her compassion and her big, bleeding heart. She thought she was showing strength through her anger. If somehow Bo could make Lauren feel even of the fraction of what she felt, then her own feelings had to have been something else entirely.

In the end, all Bo gained was the inconvenient knowledge that she still cared—and Lauren, for all her faults, had seen right through all of it the entire time.

"Friends… yeah." Bo tried to convincingly brighten her expression. "I guess so, huh?"

Lauren was perceptive, and Bo's brief emotional aside didn't escape her notice. Much to Bo's relief, she didn't mention it. She stepped toward Bo and brushed her shoulder softly. Bo looked down and watched the way her thumb caressed the material of her t-shirt.

"You should relax for a bit while I go run an errand. It shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes," Lauren said, breaking Bo's concentration. Her head snapped up, finding Lauren's eyes immediately. "I'll be back before you get done, then we can start digging through those case files."

"Promise?"

Lauren smiled at her. "I promise."


End file.
